News

Revenues from domestic online stores could rise by 20 percent to a record CZK 190 billion in 2020, due to the coronavirus epidemic, according to the Czech Association of E-commerce. The association’s director Jan Vetyška, says the crisis has led to both more clients turning to online stores and more businesses setting up e-commerce channels.

In January experts were predicting online sales to grow by 15 percent in 2020. Now, it seems that growth could exceed this figure even by 10 percent, if conditions on the market remain highly favourable, says Mr Vetyška.

Temperatures are expected to hover between 15 to 18 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The west of the country will see sunny, blue skies, while in the central and eastern regions it will be cloudy. Winds will reach speeds of between 3 to 7 kilometers an hour.

According to the latest research conducted by meteorologists, 94 percent of Czech territory has been affected by drought to some degree in recent weeks. While rainfall reached average rates in March, this was only during the first half of the month and hot weather coupled with strong winds dominated the later half of the month. These conditions grew more intense during the first half of April, Czech Television reported on Saturday.

The last few weeks have seen little rainfall, ranging only in single digit millimeters in the northern and noth-eastern parts of the country, where some regions have been hit by what is classified as extreme drought. In other parts of the country the situation is not much better, according to Czech Television.

Experts have been pointing out that drought is not just present in the Czech Republic, but is a wider, Central European problem. The risk of forest fires has been classified as medium to medium-high in the region.

Around 11 percent of Czechs have lost their jobs during the month following a government lockdown on much of the service and entertainment sectors put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. A further 12 percent are no longer receiving their salaries on time. This according to an online survey conducted by research agency Behavio for the period between March 16, the day the government lockdown entered into effect, and April 14.

The survey also suggests that 34 percent of Czechs ran out of their savings during this period and close to a half of respondents said they only have enough money left for one month.

Fear of an economic crisis resulting from the pandemic was registered among 49 percent of respondents, while 43 percent, said they fear the disease itself. Meanwhile, 25 percent of respondents said that they do not believe they will be affected by any resulting economic crash.