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Prime Minister Andrej Babiš hopes that Toyota will expand its investment in the Czech Republic and start manufacturing hydrogen powered cars in its factory in Kolín, Hospodářské Noviny reported on Thursday. The car manufacturer is a world leader in alternative fuel automobile technology and is considering increasing its production in mainland Europe in case of Brexit complications.

The number of investments concluded by CzechInvest dropped significantly last year. The government agency for attracting investments helped to secure over 80 investment projects worth 36.7 billion crowns, company representatives announced on Monday. That is a drop by two fifths on the previous year, when investments, both foreign and local, amounted to 63 billion crowns.

Prague is catching up with West European real estate markets, the daily e15 reports, citing a new survey released by PriceWaterhouseCooper and the Urban Land Institute, carried out among developers and investors. According to the 2019 report, Prague is one of the 20 most sought after cities in Europe for real estate purchases.

Ahead of the 30th anniversary of China’s crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Radio Prague spoke to Filip Jirouš, coordinator the China-watching think tank Sinopsis, about the politics behind some of the more controversial aspects of business dealings between the countries. A harsh critic of China’s sweeping Belt and Road Initiative, to which the Czech Republic has signed on, and the main Chinese investment vehicle here, CEFC, he further argues allowing Huawei to roll out the 5G network would be a disaster.

The volume of foreign capital in Czech companies is at its lowest level since 2011, according to a study of corporate structures published on Monday.

The consultancy Bisnode say the volume of foreign capital stood at 895 billion crowns in April, down 15 percent in annual terms.

Foreign entities currently hold almost 36 percent of the total share capital of Czech companies, Bisnode says.

The Czech Republic is no longer the most attractive country in the Central and Eastern European region for German investors.

According to a survey by the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce released on Wednesday, Estonia now tops the list of 15 countries.

The Czech Republic, now ranked second, had held that spot for three consecutive years. Poland placed third.

The main contributors to the decline in attractiveness are a lack of qualified people and weak vocational education, investors surveyed said. Growing labour costs, lack of transparency in public procurement and corruption are also worrying.

The Chinese group at the centre of Czech moves to boost relations and economic ties with Beijing has suffered a high profile and embarrassing setback. A Czech investment group has moved to take control of the Shanghai-based group’s European activities based in Prague citing massive unpaid debts.

Czech legislators are preparing a bill that seeks to prevent the theft of the country’s technology and is primarily aimed at Chinese investments, Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday.

The German carmaker BMW has asked for a major investment incentive from the Czech Republic in connection with a test centre for electric and self-driving cars in Sokolov, in the region of Karlovy Vary.

Two years after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Prague, planned investment in the Czech Republic strongly backed by his Czech counterpart Miloš Zeman has fallen well short of the mark.