News

Household spending in the Czech Republic is increasing, even though inflation remained below two percent at the start of this year. According to a survey conducted by the Ipsos agency for Home Credit, 65 percent of households now have higher monthly expenses than a year ago, with higher food prices and overall price increases being the main reasons.

People are trying to save money mainly on travel, but also on food and clothing.

“The data show that most households perceive higher expenses today, but rising prices hit lower-income budgets the hardest. Among households with an income of up to CZK 30,000, 29 percent of respondents reported a significant increase in expenses, while among households earning more than CZK 70,000, it was only eight percent. Women and people aged 45 to 53 also perceive rising costs more strongly,” said Home Credit chief analyst Jaroslav Ondrušek.

The ANO party would win the Chamber of Deputies elections by a wide margin if they were held in May, according to a poll conducted by the NMS agency for Právo daily. The ruling ANO would receive 32.5 percent of the vote. The second-placed ODS would be supported by 14.8 percent of voters, while the STAN party would come third with 14.5 percent.

SPD and the Pirates would also enter parliament. The governing Motorists party would remain below the five-percent threshold needed to secure seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The new party Naše Česko (“Our Czechia”), led by South Bohemian governor Martin Kuba (formerly of ODS), dropped to 2.8 percent compared to the previous poll.

Councillors in Brno are keen to remove an image of Stalin from the city’s Central Cemetery, the news site iRozhlas.cz reported on Thursday. The Soviet leader’s face is depicted in a protected part of the cemetery where the remains of WWII Red Army soldiers are interred.

City officials and cemetery administrators were tasked on Wednesday with finding a way of dealing with the matter. One possibility would be to remove the image of Stalin during a planned renovation of that section of the cemetery, iRozhlas.cz said.

Reporters Without Borders have condemned online death threats against journalist Zuzana Černá following comments from Jindřich Rajchl, a Czech government MP. The threats appeared under a social media post from Mr. Rajchl condemning her work.

The international press freedom group called on the MP to withdraw his original post and to condemn the attacks on Ms. Černá. The police are investigating the threats.

The Czech Syndicate of Journalists had earlier condemned the actions of Mr. Rajchl, who is an MP for the Freedom and Direct Democracy grouping.