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The Czech Republic’s gross domestic product growth could fall below 2 percent this year, according to analysts questioned by the Czech News Agency. Overall, they view the state of the economy as relatively good, with strong consumption and investment levels acting as support.

Last week saw shares on the Prague Stock Exchange fall by 10 percent, with index levels at their lowest since June 2017. Analysts say this is part of an international trend with shareholders worried about the impact of the coronavirus.

The Czech finance minister has said the government’s proposal to introduce a digital tax could be postponed till next year and the proposed tax could be cut from 7 to 5 percent. The statement comes following a warning from the US ambassador to Prague about possible retaliatory measures by the Trump administration and concerns voiced by leading Czech exporters who fear damage to Czech-American business relations.

Domestic supermarket chains and internet food retailers say they have registered a spike in interest in non-perishable foodstuffs on the back of fears that the Covid-19 virus, which has been detected in a number of other European countries, will reach the Czech Republic.

Prague City councillors are discussing plans to save the long-disused Vyšehrad Train Station. Located near the ancient Vyšehrad fortification and the Charles University Botanic Gardens, the striking Art Nouveau building has been falling into disrepair for years. One of the proposals suggests that the building could serve as a permanent exhibition space for the Slav Epic, a famous cycle of paintings by Alfons Mucha.

Czechs are spending increasing sums of money on their pets, the Hospodářské noviny daily reported on Tuesday. While pet owners invest mainly in quality food, there is also a growing demand for other products, including pet clothes, fur conditioners, vitamins and paw wipes.

Czechs are increasingly buying on–the–go meals according to a new analysis released by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. The trend is leading to healthy fast foods being offered not just in local shops, but also by online retailers and becoming a challenge for established fast food stores.

Czech companies are slowly starting to feel the effects of the coronavirus epidemic that is a major threat to China and its economy, the news site Novinky.cz reports. Some companies have goods locked in Chinese warehouses and scheduled deliveries of components for computers, mobile phones and various other electronic devices are late or have stopped altogether due to production restrictions or closed factories in China.

The deal of the year in the Czech Republic’s energy industry is beginning to take shape, with a number of major players battling it out to get their hands on the largest gas supplier on the domestic market, the local branch of innogy, Hospodářské noviny reported on Monday.

Nearly 80 percent of Czechs consider the dual quality of food in European stores a problem. A study carried out by the KPMG agency suggests that roughly every seventh Czech consumer prefers to buy certain products abroad and nearly one third of them refrain from buying certain products due to the dual quality issue.