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According to the financial daily Hospodářské noviny, Czech consumers last year spent one-fifth more using payment cards. The number of venues where it is possible to shop using a credit or debit card grew by 18 percent from 2014 to almost 108,000. One factor in the increase is contactless payment, speeding up small transactions. Now, seven out of ten cards offer the service.

The Czech Republic is facing a major problem due to the fact that some environment assessments for major construction projects are up to 20 years old with most of the projects themselves still not far from the drawing board. The European Commission has been threatening to turn off the flow of billions of crowns for projects but a compromise for some now looks like it is taking shape.

A long running and complicated police investigation appears to have unearthed disturbing details about the suspicious sale of one of the country’s biggest engineering companies. In spite of the accumulated evidence, no prosecutions look likely to result.

Thursday saw the official launch of the Prague Startup Centre, a new hub – backed by the City of Prague, the Czech ICT Alliance and government agency CzechInvest – aimed at helping innovative firms get off the ground.

The Ad Hoc Group, representing a group of foreign investors who have become the new owners of New World Resources and the Czech coal mining company OKD, have made clear their intention not only to save the ailing latter firm but to keep its mines running for years to come.

While Czechs’ beer consumption dropped slightly in recent years producers are not worried. In the past two years exports have steadily increased, hitting record figures. In the past five years beer exports have risen by more than 40 percent.

Leaders of the government coalition parties on Monday will debate the thorny question of how to rebalance the costs of electricity supply between different categories of Czech households and businesses. An outline proposal for changes from the national energy regulator has resulted in an avalanche of criticism with one option now to go back to the drawing board.

A rift appears to have erupted between one of the Czech Republic’s biggest Internet operators and most of the major media companies putting their content over the web. How this tussle will conclude looks like anyone’s guess.

Potato growing in the Czech Republic has been on the decline in recent years. While over 1.5 million tonnes of the tuber were produced in 2005/2006, the figure has now fallen to 604,000 tonnes. Industry bodies have now come up with suggestions aimed at reversing that trend.

An increasing number of Czechs are facing problems with debts, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday. According to the daily, every tenth Czech has had some serious problem repaying debts and either they or their relatives are facing property seizure.