Business | All stories

Struggling Czech aircraft company Aircraft Industries is subject to an ownership tug of war between local aviation group Aero Vodochody and the Chinese conglomerate CEFC, according to the business daily Hospodářske Noviny.

Lithium extraction is set to take place in former ore mines Northern Bohemia after the issuing of a permit to a Czech company, iHned.cz reported on Wednesday. The process will be technically complex but current high prices could make it a lucrative enterprise.

The Czech Central Bank has withdrawn the license of the small Russian-owned ERB Bank citing poor risk management and violation of exposure rules relating to bond investments. According to Czech Television the decision is legally binding.

What has been described as the biggest proposed global acquisition this year - the bid by US telecoms giant AT&T for Time Warner – has a Czech angle with the deal set to give its new owner control of the biggest Czech commercial television group centred on flagship broadcaster TV Nova.

Czech car and vehicle production, accounting for just under 30 percent of the country’s total industrial production, is heading by the end of this year for the record figure of 1.3 million vehicles manufactured in the country.

Investment in Russia by Czech spark plug producer Brisk Tábor has been highlighted as one particular bright spot in problematic Czech-Russian trade and investment relations.

A new record has been set in the Czech car industry: one million vehicles produced in the first nine months. It is the first time that the mark was surpassed in Q3, a rise of 7.3 percent in production over the same period last year.

Record low interest rates have led to a mortgage boom in the Czech Republic that is driving up housing prices. According to the central bank housing prices in Prague and other big cities are now five to ten percent inflated and the rush to invest in property is leading people to borrow more than they can afford.

For almost three years the country’s central bank has been intervening on the currency markets to keep the Czech crown weak. The Czech National Bank has signalled that it will end that policy quite soon. But what will happen next? One former deputy governor of the CNB believes the Czech currency will likely face “huge speculation”.

The Czech minister of justice is putting forward a new amendment to the bankruptcy law aimed at helping people to climb out of debt and make a fresh start. The legislation would make it easier for them to enter the debt relief process – and could mean they will be free of debt more quickly than at present.