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Czech household debt reached 2.18 trillion crowns in the first quarter of 2018, according to data released by the Banking and Non-banking Credit Register on Wednesday. Year-on-year, the Czech household debt burden increased by over 175 billion crowns, or 8.7 percent.

Prices of apartments in the Czech Republic have been growing sharply in recent years, and so have the prices of summer houses. In 2017, prices of Czech cottages and cabins went up by five to ten percent on the previous year, the Czech News Agency reported.

It’s almost a year to the day since the Czech Republic finally moved to ban smoking in bars, cafes, and restaurants. And while the ban is still a live issue with sporadic attempts to change the law, a survey commissioned by Charles University shows support is still strong among Czechs and suggests that there are a lot of myths about its impact.

Just over one week after the dramatic takeover of the assets of the biggest Chinese investor in the Czech Republic, CEFC, a deal appears to have been sealed which should pave the way for a return to normal business. In the words of some Czech reports, the Czech-Chinese war is over.

The first steps, or at least courtship, in a marriage between two of the biggest Czech steelmakers, Třinecké Železárny and ArcelorMittal Ostrava, appears to be on course.

One of the biggest Czech business success stories of the post-Velvet Revolution is up for sale according to the business daily, Hospodářské Noviny.

Major Czech auto industry players are turning their attention to India, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Tuesday. The car industry in India has been growing at a record pace and the government there wants to triple car production by the year 2026.

The Czech Republic has the lowest jobless rate in the European Union with vacancies now outstripping the registered unemployed. But moves to attract workers from Ukraine are being hampered by red tape. That sparked a lightning visit last week by the Czech labour minister and a raft of reforms are now promised.

Prague’s stock exchange has had something of a roller coaster existence after it reopened in 1993, a few years after the fall of communism in 1989. It's now looking to boost its fortunes by raising cash for small companies.

Work on the most complicated section of a rail connection between central Prague and the city’s Václav Havel Airport can go ahead after the withdrawal of a petition against it lodged with the Office for the Protection of Competition, iDnes.cz reported on Thursday. However, it will still be several years before such a link is in place.