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Czech households’ electricity bills will be lower next year as the country’s dominant electricity producer ČEZ has announced it will slash its prices, and its rivals are expected to follow suit. ČEZ said that its most popular tariff will be 15 percent cheaper, and it has also offered its clients a two-year fixed tariff at an even lower price.

A boutique butcher’s called The Real Meat Society was established last year in Prague’s New Town. Since then, the small shop has become a popular stop for carnivores looking for meat from “happy” animals. With only three employees, the butcher’s sells one cow, some five pigs and two lambs a week that are processed from nose to tail, a concept that many Czech butchers seem to have forgotten. I sat down with one of the Real Meat Society’s founders Michaela Jorgensen and asked her about the shop’s philosophy.

The Czech economy is slowly recovering from a long period of economic downturn but in some parts of the Czech Republic the recession is far from over. One of the worst hit areas is the north-eastern Ostrava region where more than 100,000 people are unemployed. Ostrava is now bracing for worse as some of the major employers such as coal mines and steel works are facing serious difficulties.

The latest figures suggest that the longest recession in modern Czech history is over. The Czech Statistical Office reported the country’s gross domestic product increased by 0.7 percent in the second quarter of this year. If confirmed, the Czech economy would have grown for the first time in 18 months. The growth has been very fragile and fuelled mainly by exports while domestic spending remains depressed – but can exports provide a base for sustainable growth? And what can the caretaker Czech government do to boost the recovery? In this edition

The Czech Republic might have just begun its recovery from the longest economic recession on record. But the depressed economy has taken a severe toll on most Czechs, with the most vulnerable groups having been hit particularly hard. This is one of the findings of the 2012 report by the Czech branch of Social Watch, an NGO that monitors poverty and other social issues. Entitled Decline and Resignation, the report also says a recent rise in ethnic tensions seen across the Czech Republic is closely linked to the deteriorating social standards. In

In one of its major decisions since assuming office in July, the Czech government has decided to end support for most renewable sources of energy. The draft legislation, triggered by relatively high electricity prices, would scrap state support for new solar and biogas plants as of 2014. It would also cap the subsidies paid by consumers in support of renewable energy sources.

The summer tourist season is half way through, and the numbers suggest it will be a good one for the Czech travel industry. Despite the protracted economic recession, the number of Czechs holidaying abroad has risen slightly. The Czech Republic has also reaffirmed its position on the global tourist market and more and more foreign tourists have began discovering the country’s regions rather than only spending a few days in the capital. In this edition of Marketplace, I discuss this year’s tourist season with Klára Droznová of Mag Consulting, a Prague-based

The largest Czech internet portal Seznam.cz has started work on a project to put panoramic views of every street, lane and alley in the country online. Entitled Panorama, the project is similar to Google’s Street View which only covers parts of the country. But Panorama’s creators say some of its features, and mainly its massive scope, will exceed anything available today. In this edition of Marketplace, I talk to Adam Chvaja, the product manager of Seznam’s mapping service, Mapy.cz.

Though it is unclear how long Jiří Rusnok’s freshly appointed cabinet will remain in power, it will certainly face some difficult tasks. The government has pledged not to take any strategic decisions, such as on the extension of the Temelín nuclear plant. But it will have to try and revive economic growth while at the same time keeping a tight reign on the deficit.

The hype over Western supermarkets of the 1990s started fading for Czechs sometime in the early noughties. As healthy eating became more of a priority for some Czech city dwellers, small organic food shops began cropping up in most cities. Organic was all the rage. Yet, many of the products sold in organic food shops were not locally grown, leaving a gap on the market for small and medium Czech farmers to fill.