Monday News Briefing

NEWS 

Events marking the 65th anniversary of the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia have begun, with around 100 people attending a meeting Feb. 24 commemorating victims of the regime. Tens of candles and flowers were laid at a memorial to Communist victims in an event attended by writer Michal Horáček, Prague auxiliary bishop Karel Herbst and director of the Institute for the Studies of Totalitarian Regimes Daniel Herman. On Feb. 25 an anti-communist rally is being held at Prague's Old Town Square, to mark the day in 1948 when Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš yielded to pressure and accepted the resignation of 12 non-Communist government members and then appointed new ones as demanded by Communist leader, Prime Minister Klement Gottwald.

BUSINESS 

Overall confidence in the Czech economy increased in February with the composite confidence indicator rising by 1.6 points month-on-month, the Czech Statistical Office announced Feb. 25. Both the business confidence and consumer confidence indicators increased on the month. In year-on-year comparison, the composite confidence and business confidence indicators are lower while the consumer confidence indicator is higher. In industry, the assessment of the general economic situation remained unchanged, as did the assessment of current total and foreign demand.   

Nestlé General Manager Torben Emborg says he thinks that the Czech consumer market has fallen more than anywhere else in Europe, Mladá fronta Dnes (MFD) reported Feb. 25. Czechs feel uncertainty, he said, and they are afraid to spend money. The austerity package and increases to VAT have had an influence on significantly higher prices last year, he told MFD.  

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