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Last year was a good one for the Czech film industry. The turnover of Czech-based film production companies grew by 23 percent, from over four billion crowns in 2012 to more than five billion, according to figures released on Monday by the country’s Audiovisual Producers’ Association. The growth was mainly fuelled by foreign co-productions.

The latest ongoing report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be music the to ears of the Czech government, Ministry of Finance, and Czech National Bank. It gives broad backing to current government and bank policy and only a few pointers where the performance could be better.

For the most part being a supervisory board member on a Czech state company looks like a highly paid form of pre-retirement pension for politicians who’ve past the sell-by date. The demands are light and the rewards relatively high. But the latest controversy over supervisory boards fails to address the main problems.

Mining company New World Resources (NRW) is preparing for the possible sale of daughter companies, including the Ostrava-based coal producer OKD, it was reported on Wednesday. OKD has around 12,000 employees and runs four mines in the Czech Republic, including the Paskov mine in North Moravia, which it plans to close in three years’ time.

The abolition of anonymous shares in companies, and as a result the ending of firms with no clear ownership, came into force at the end of June with thousands of such firms still in existence. The phase out, part of the drive to make corporate life more transparent and aid the fight against corruption and criminality, looks like taking some time to take full effect.

Czech households’ debt increased in May by over 43 billion crowns annually, amounting now to over 1.2 trillion crowns, according to figures released by the Czech National Bank on Monday. Analysts say record low mortgage rates have been a major factor in the increase in households’ debt.

Russia tops the list of countries where Czech exporters would like to boost their sales according to an evaluation drawing on approaches for help to Czech institutions abroad. But Ukraine has slipped sharply down the rankings as tension continues in the east of the country.

The South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai is planning to build a new factory to produce headlights about 30 kilometres from its large auto plant at Nošovice in North Moravia. At the same time, South Korea’s Nexen Tire has just inked a deal for a gigantic investment in North Bohemia.

Czech power company ČEZ has paid a price for drawing a line under its Albanian episode and is now looking away from the Balkans and to countries closer to home as the target for its future investment targets.

The Czech Republic is preparing for a fundamental shift in its energy policy, Hospodářské noviny reported on Tuesday. Quoting the latest version of the official long-term state energy plan, the business daily says the country is set to make a switch from being a state that exports power to one that imports it.