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One result does not make a summer, or a winter, but it can easily dent fragile optimism. And ČEZ’s first quarter results released Tuesday probably achieved that as well as putting a brighter spotlight on the power company’s future strategy.

A new poll released by the Czech discount retail website Skrz.cz, which offers the use of a search engine to trawl for the best deals – has suggested that Czechs trying to save money cut-back most on either clothes or food, opting to knot an older tie or chow down on cheaper food, presumably, rather than knock themselves out at boutique fashion shops or swanky restaurants.

Sourcing supplies and manufacturing has got a lot more complicated and fragmented with globalization. In many cases, countries are just partial providers or stops for goods or services before they end up with the final consumer. But appreciation of the more complex creation of wealth and trade flows is only beginning to be pieced together by international and national policy makers.

The Czech government is expected to approve a Transport Ministry amendment aimed at getting infrastructure projects – currently stalled – back on track. The completion of both highways and railway routes depends on winning over disaffected landowners by offering better prices for arable land than they had until now.

More bricks than ever will fall into place at Lego's Kladno plant.

The Czech coalition government has outlined it economic predictions to 2017, seeing public spending recovering but the overall burden of increased generosity being largely covered by higher growth. Details are still thin on efficiency and cost saving initiatives.

Some basic profit and loss accounts for EU membership have been produced, though an exact figure in the bottom line is not easy to determine.

The Czech Republic’s most watched television channel, TV Nova, could be set to change hands. Coal tycoon Pavel Tykáč is teaming up with the country’s richest man, Petr Kellner, in a bid to buy Nova’s owner CME, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Tuesday.

The government of Bohuslav Sobotka has made a brisk start in business and economic areas, though some of the more difficult decisions have been postponed. A clean divide has been made with the previous centre-right government. While some personal prickliness is evident, major rifts have been controlled.

Outside Ukraine and Russia, markets are failing to factor in the likelihood of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. But some economists and politicians are warning that the result could see Czech economic growth halved or even wiped out altogether this year.