TRADE - Last year, for the first time in its history, the country exported more goods than it imported. The 2005 foreign trade balance ended in a surplus of 41.9 billion Kč ($1.8 billion), according to data released by the Czech Statistical Office Feb. 3. The export economy is booming thanks to a sharp increase in domestic automotive production in the past two years.

SALARIES - State bailout agency Česká konsolidační agentura is paying its staff excessive salaries and bonuses, Lidové noviny reported Feb. 3, citing a report by the Supreme Audit Office. According to the report, the agency's section chief made more than 250,000 Kč a month between April 2004 and June 2005 and received a 695,000 Kč bonus in May 2005.

BONDS - A government proposal to issue 65.2 billion Kč in bonds to cover part of the state budget deficit this year passed first reading in the Chamber of Deputies Feb. 1. The government is planning to run a 74.4 billion Kč state budget deficit this year.

PROFIT - Czech online bank eBanka managed to climb out of the red last year, posting 10.5 million Kč in profit in 2005, compared with a 271 million Kč loss a year earlier, CEO Tomáš Černý said Feb. 2. The bank's 2005 gross profit was 41.3 million Kč. Its client base increased 19.7 percent to 14.4 billion Kč.

STOCK - Orco Property Group's stock increased 68 percent in 2005, its first year of trading on the Prague Stock Exchange, the company announced at a Feb. 2 press conference. Orco was the third-best performer on the exchange last year. The company forecasts sales will double to 2.6 billion Kč this year and double again in 2007.

OVERSIGHT - The Czech National Bank (ČNB) will take control of supervising the country's financial markets starting in April in an attempt by the government to unify oversight of the markets. Critics have said this gives the ČNB too much power. Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, however, said unifying oversight power under the bank will cut 100 million Kč from the state budget.

INFLATION - The sharp increase in prices of electricity, gas, heat and water led to a rise in inflation in January, according to analysts. Inflation was 2.7 percent last month compared to 2.2 percent in December, according to preliminary data. The Czech Statistical Office will release January's official inflation figures Feb. 8.