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In business news today: household energy prices to grow in coming months; Slevomat.cz buys share in Hungary’s Bónus Brigád; Czech Post expects rise in profit compared to 2011; Construction sector expects crisis to deepen.

In Business News this week: the economy slows down suggesting even bleaker outlooks; the Czech crown loses its lustre for investors; Czech banks lose billions in the Greek debt crisis; President Klaus vetoes a bill introducing criminal liability for corporations; firms increasingly introduce loyalty programmes to keep customers; and Czech Post will launch “great parcel revolution”.

In this week’s business news: lower house approves package of reform bills, coalition agrees to postpone tax reform until 2014, EC revises Czech growth forecast downward and Czechs pessimistic about the future.

The lower house passes the draft state budget for 2012 in a first reading; the 2011 Czech state budget deficit falls to 91.5 billion crowns in October; the Czech unemployment rate drops 0.5 percent to 6.6 percent year on year; the lower house approves restrictions of state support to building savings; and Škoda Auto reveals price of its new model.

The prime minister wants a referendum if the euro is to be adopted; a new natural gas line opens to the north; passenger car production up; the government shells out 11.7 billion on operation of renewable energy sources; and Czech Television stops advertising.

In Business News: A Russian consortium is reportedly the most likely to win an upcoming tender on the expansion of the Temelín nuclear power plant; sources report an uptick in Russian FDI; Czech Railways announces the aim to sell off property worth 90 million crowns; the first Škoda Citigo – a new small vehicle intended for zipping in-and-out of city traffic –rolls off the assembly line; and, the transport minister proposes a new fee for vanity licence plates.

The Czech government’s pilot bond issue is sold out weeks ahead of deadline; long-term unemployment rate drops in the second quarter of 2011; the budget deficit reaches almost 80 percent of 2011 projected figure; next year’s state budget draft proposes public service job cuts; dozens of solar power companies demand compensation from Czech government.

The new kid on the rails is already looking further afield; Česká spořitelna sues to cancel Sazka tender, unsuccessfully; the government approves ambitious competitiveness strategy for 2012 to 2020; foreign debt rises by 32.2 billion; 15 years of GDP revised to account for drugs, prostitution.

In business news this week: the government approves the 2012 draft budget amidst concerns over revised economic growth predictions, wages rose by an average 2.5 percent in the second quarter while the jobless rate remains essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent.

In this week’s business news: the unexpected resignation of ČEZ CEO Martin Roman, the opening of the first gas pipeline between the Czech Republic and Poland, the Czech Finance Ministry to launch a pilot issue of retail bonds and Czechs increasingly sceptical with regard to the future of the Eurozone.