In Business News this week: Czech currency in circulation exceeds 500 billion mark for first time; Spending watchdog finds 2.2 billion in irregular spending at defense ministry; Škoda Auto to raise prices of most popular models; New stretch of Prague metro’s A line to get mobile phone signal; Ruling on late train delivery could lead to ticket price hike
Czech currency in circulation exceeds 500 billion mark for first time
Photo: Barbora Kmentová
The value of bank notes and coins in circulation in the Czech Republic has for the first time exceeded the 500 billion crown mark, the Czech National Bank announced on Monday. The total is made up of of more than 2 billion individual notes and coins in circulation, the most popular being the 1,000 crown note and, at the other end of the value chain, the one crown piece.
Spending watchdog finds 2.2 billion in irregular spending at defense ministry
Illustrative photo: CTK
The state spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has highlighted spending irregularities at parts of the Ministry of Defence. Altogether it found irregularities of around 2.2 billion crowns in the period from 2009 to 2014. The worst were in the ministry’s arrangements for security at its munitions stores where contracts were awarded to one company without a tender and irregularities amount to 2 billion crowns. Other problems were found in purchasing of food, without regard to the number needing to be fed, and provision of accommodation.
Škoda Auto to raise prices of most popular models
Škoda Fabia|Photo: Petr Jansa, Czech Radio
Czech car maker Škoda Auto has raised prices of its most popular cars on the Czech market, the website aktualne.cz reported on Thursday. According to the company, prices were increased due to inflation. They also said the price hike will be compensated by an improvement in the basic equipment offered on models. As of next week, the price for a Škoda Superb will increase by 15,000 crowns and the price for an Octavia by 5,000 crowns. The price of a Fabia currently starts at 239,000 crowns and the top of the range Superb at 614,000 crowns.
New stretch of Prague metro’s A line to get mobile phone signal
Photo: Filip Jandourek
Three mobile phone operators have signed a contract with the Prague transport authority on providing a signal along the new stretch of Prague metro’s A line. The pilot project should give passengers the luxury of making calls and using LTE internet along the entire length of the recently opened stretch of the line linking the stations Bořislavka, Veleslavín, Petřiny and Motol Hospital. Work on wiring up the tunnels has been underway since the contract between T-mobile, Vodafone, 02 and Prague City Transport was signed at the end of June and should be concluded by the end of the year.
Ruling on late train delivery could lead to ticket price hike
Photo: Jaroslav Charvát, CC BY-SA 3.0
If an appeal against an arbitration ruling under which Czech Railways must pay CZK 1.2 billion to Škoda Transportation proves unsuccessful the price of train tickets in the Czech Republic could go up, the Minister of Transport, Dan Ťok, has warned. Czech Railways had been seeking close to a CZK 1 billion from the engineering company over the late delivery of nearly two dozen of Škoda Transportation’s 380 line locomotives. However after years of deliberation (the original deal was done in 2004), the court of arbitration attached to the country’s economic and agricultural chambers found in favour of Škoda Transportation in a verdict that one news site said meant that Czech Railways now had the most expensive trains in the world.
