Business News

In Business News this week: State budget surplus for May the best since 1993; Economic confidence falls according to PMI index; Number of grocery stores in Czech Republic keeps dropping; Tax freedom day advances to June 2 for Czechs; Czech economy grew by lowered 3.0 percent in first quarter.

State budget surplus for May the best since 1993

Illustrative photo: jannoon028 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The state budget ended May with a surplus of 22.4 billion crowns, the best May result since 1993. Details were given by Minister of Finance Andrej Babiš to the lower house of parliament. The minister added that tax revenues during the first five months of the year are nearly 24 billion more than during the same period in 2015. The target budget deficit for the whole of 2016 has been set at 70 billion crowns.

Economic confidence falls according to PMI index

Economic confidence has dropped in the Czech Republic for the fourth month running according to a poll of key managers in manufacturing. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 53.3 points in May from April’s 53.6 points according to the monthly index released by Markit Economics. The index is based on the state of new orders, stocks at factories, delivery deadlines, and the recruitment of new workers. Any score higher than 50 is still in positive territory. The fact that many companies are still hiring is seen as an indication that growth is not going to peter out altogether.

Number of grocery stores in Czech Republic keeps dropping

Photo: archive of Radio Prague

The number of grocery stores in the Czech Republic has dropped by four percent since 2013, to 12,294, according to data released by the Nielsen consultancy company on Thursday. Small grocery stores with a shopping area under 400 square metres saw the biggest drop in numbers. The number of supermarkets went down as well, by 28 over the past three years, while the number of hypermarkets increased by 19. Supermarkets and hypermarkets account for 80 percent of the overall sales of grocery items in the Czech Republic, which is the highest proportion in Central Europe.

Tax freedom day advances to June 2 for Czechs

Czechs could celebrate tax freedom day on June 2 according to the calculations of the Liberal Institute, that’s after a total of 153 working days. Last year Czechs had to work 155 days before they started earning for themselves. The institute said that the Czech Republic is still trailing many advanced OECD countries where day freedom day comes earlier. According to consultancy, Deloitte, tax freedom day this year comes later, on June 20.

Czech economy grew by lowered 3.0 percent in first quarter

Photo: Klára Stejskalová

The Czech economy grew by 3.0 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2016, according to revised figures released by the Czech Statistical Office on Friday. Compared to the previous quarter, the country’s gross domestic product grew by 0.4 percent. The figures are slightly lower than the previous estimate which expected a year-on-year growth of 3.1 percent and quarterly growth of 0.5 percent.