The Czech ministry of finance has been preparing a draft bill which abolishes the concept of the super-gross wage. This will mean a bigger pay slip for employees.

The latest surveys and statistics show that investments into sustainable projects have been growing in the long term, also thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it seems that ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) funds are more profitable than the traditional ones. The public sector is not lagging behind in aiding sustainable transformation; it is already possible to draw new funds on the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovations for Competitiveness (OPEIC), which can be used for driving innovation and more sustainable businesses. At a European level, new calls in the Horizon 2020 programme were announced which should help fulfil the goals of Green Deal. In addition, the European Commission published guidelines that will allow member states to compensate certain businesses for indirect costs in relation to the greenhouse gas emission trading scheme after 2021.

As the second wave of the pandemic surges, confidence in the Czech economy fell in October, mainly for services and consumers. But we think the figure is understated as the data isn't reflective of the latest partial lockdowns announced last week

On 14 October Jan Švejnar was a guest speaker at Forum 2000 Conference - an annual discussion of global political, intellectual, spiritual, and business leaders founded by former Czech President Václav Havel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, and philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa.