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Czech President Miloš Zeman has approved a windfall tax for banks and energy, oil and mining companies that will take effect from next year. The tax will be at a rate of 60 percent and will apply to excess profit that industries seen as benefitting from the energy crisis are currently enjoying. The government anticipates that the new tax will bring in about CZK 45 billion to the state budget in 2023. This money is intended to cover the extra costs that the state is incurring with regards to the setting of energy price caps.

Forum Karlín has cancelled upcoming concerts by two Russian artists, both of whom openly support Russia's war in Ukraine, after criticism on social media at the decision to allow them to perform in the Czech Republic. Among the critics was former Ukrainian ambassador to the Czech Republic and current Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis.

Russian singers Grigory Leps and Stas Mikhaylov were scheduled to perform at the music venue in Prague next spring. In May of this year, Leps visited the Russian-occupied Donbas region and voiced his support for the local separatists.

It is not clear whether several billions of crowns of subsidies earmarked for supporting socially disadvantaged families has actually helped them, the Czech Supreme Audit Office said in a press release on Monday. According to their conclusions, the Czech Labour and Social Affairs Ministry is not monitoring how EU subsidies concretely help families, rather only keeping track of the number of families that receive subsidies. The labour ministry does not agree with the office's conclusions, the Czech News Agency reports.

The Supreme Audit Office examined the allocation of nine billion crowns given to socially disadvantaged families via several subsidy programmes between 2018 and 2020. According to the press release, the ministry did not set specific aims and it is thus not possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the subsidies.

The Czech Republic is still considered a net recipient of EU subsidies, meaning it receives more money from the EU budget than it contributes to it. In 2020, Czechia paid 2.27 billion euros to the EU budget and received 5.5 billion euros.

Interest in country cottages and summer cabins (chaty) is on the decline in Czechia and the price of these properties is therefore also declining, Czech Television reported on Monday citing several real estate agents. This is in contrast to a rise in demand for such properties during the years of the coronavirus pandemic

The spokeswoman for the real estate website Videobydlení, Monika Lukešová, said that prices of recreational properties have been on the decline for seven months now, falling by about 20 percent. The fall is especially noticeable in properties that are far from large cities, real estate agent Jan Ptáček told Czech TV.  The rise in energy prices is also playing a role, Ms Lukešová said.