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Talks about the possible Russian participation in a project to build new nuclear capacity alongside Czech utility ČEZ have collapsed. The tale here is not of Temelín and tough Czech retaliation against Russian intervention in Ukraine, but of Slovakia and ČEZ’s ill-fated joint venture with the Slovak government.

A new package of investment incentives is being drawn up with the onus on cutting company payments rather than forcing them to reclaim cash from the state. The new rules could cushion some of the impact of stricter European regional aid rules which are expected to blunt the Czech Republic’s use of this incentive for investors.

The recently installed minister of transport, Antonín Prachař of ANO, has rejected a plan to liberalise more sections of the Czech Republic’s rail network, Lidové noviny reported on Wednesday.

Heroine or villain? The high profile but sometimes quixotic head of the Czech independent energy regulator Alena Vitásková could be cast either way by the role she has occupied since becoming chairwoman of the office in mid-2011. On Tuesday, she emerged again above the parapet again to fend off attacks on her person and the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERÚ).

Attracting foreign investment has become a much debated issue in recent months with the government working on a new strategy to promote the country’s business interests in far-flung destinations. Now the north Bohemian town of Žatec is reported to be close to signing a 20-billion crown investment deal that could provide over two thousand jobs is a region suffering from high unemployment.

The Czech construction sector has suffered like no other over the past five years with a continuous slide in turnover. While there are signs that some sectors might return to growth this year, a wider recovery is not expected until 2015 at the earliest.

Despite projections of economic growth, fear of the future and high unemployment is making Czechs increasingly cautious when it comes to spending. Polls indicate that in 2013 two thirds of Czechs significantly cut back on their expenditures, forking out less on clothes, entertainment, holidays but also food and in some cases even medical care. Restaurants around the country are feeling the pinch and hundreds of them are literally fighting for survival.

The latest European Commission macro-economic forecast for the Czech Republic contains few surprises, but a few figures catch the eye as possible problems as the government goes forward.

Producer prices are one of the parameters that the central bank watches closely to get a feel of what final inflation figures it and consumers will soon face. And the bank feels it is on safe ground after negative figures from January and the promise of low price rises at factory gates for the rest of the year.

Managers holding the Czech company purse strings are upbeat about the coming year but see the main task as expanding existing and foreign markets through conventional growth rather than through acquisitions. Risk aversion is still the order of the day and the feel bad factor is not forgotten.