Business News
Prague Stock Exchange rallies at end of turbulent week
Photo: CTK
As all over the world, all eyes this week have been on the stock market
here in the Czech Republic. And the Prague Stock Exchange has been
turbulent, with panic selling earlier in the week. However – boosted by
positive signs from America, and the US Federal Reserve interest rate cut
– Thursday saw a strong rally, with a rise of 8.42 percent; that was the
fastest increase since autumn 1993, when the bourse was still in its
infancy. Growth slowed to less than 1 percent on Friday morning.
Credit card numbers up by 40 percent in one year
The number of credit cards issued in the Czech Republic increased by a
whopping 40 percent in 2007, Hospodářské noviny reported. A record
400,000 cards were issued by the country’s biggest banks last year,
bringing the total to 1.25 million. Central Bank data quoted by the
newspaper suggests that credit card debt topped CZK 10 billion at the end
of November last year, a three-fold increase in two years. The trend is
expected to continue this year; for instance, Česká spořitelna bank is
hoping to achieve a two-thirds increase in credit cards issued.
Poll: most Czechs unfazed by living in debt
Meanwhile, living on credit seems to hold no fear for most Czechs: a poll
conducted by the STEM agency in January suggests 68 percent think it is
quite normal to take a loan from a bank. Young people seem rather more
comfortable with the idea of living in debt: nearly 80 percent of
respondents said they would be willing to take a loan, compared to 55
percent of the over 60s.
Czech Railways to sell Sky Europe flights at selected stations
Czech Railways is to begin selling flights on the airline Sky Europe at
the ticket offices of 20 selected train stations around the country. Under
a deal announced by the two companies this week flights will be sold at an
advantageous price – on condition that passengers buy a rail ticket to
Prague’s Ruzyně airport. Czech Railways had a similar arrangement with
Czech Airlines in the past, but the latter pulled out as the deal brought
little tangible result in terms of ticket sales.
Czech produced films top box-office as cinema sales reach new high
Cinemas in the Czech Republic generated sales of CZK 1.2 billion in 2007,
the highest figure ever, according to information posted on their website
this week by the Union of Film Distributors. Audience figures were up by
1.3 million to 12.8 million – the highest number since 1994, when cinema
attendance started to decline in the wake of the launch of the commercial
station TV Nova. One third of cinema audiences in 2007 attended Czech
movies; indeed the domestically-produced Empties and I Served the King of
England were the two biggest hits at the Czech box-office. The most popular
import was Shrek the Third.
