Czech Republic

The Czech Republic's biggest steelworks Liberty Ostrava, part of Indian-British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's business empire, was sent into bankruptcy by a court on Friday, AFP reported. Liberty Steel Group, part of Gupta's GFG Alliance, said earlier this month it had put its operations in the eastern Czech steel hub of Ostrava up for sale, citing "very demanding" conditions on the crisis-hit steel market. Liberty Ostrava has said its overdue debt had exceeded five billion koruna ($214 million) as it asked to be declared insolvent.

The Regional Court in Ostrava has opened insolvency proceedings with the Liberty Ostrava Steelworks, the largest steel producer in Czechia, Radio Prague International reported. The insolvency petition was filed by the company itself which said it was unable to meet overdue liabilities exceeding CZK 5 billion. Liberty has been struggling with severe financial problems since last autumn. Most of its operations have been closed since December of last year.

Atos SE chose a bailout proposal from a group led by David Layani’s Onepoint, its top shareholder, beating out a rival bid from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky for the troubled French IT company, Bloomberg News reported. Onepoint’s rescue plan for the troubled French IT company, which includes new equity and reduced debt, has the support of the board and the company will now seek to reach a final agreement with its creditors by July, Atos said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Czech Republic’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the fourth straight time as inflation dropped and the economy showed signs of recovery, the Associated Press reported. The cut by a half-percentage point brought the interest rate down to 5.25%. The move was expected by analysts. The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, which marked the first cut since June 22, 2022. It continued with a cut by a half-percentage point on Feb. 8 and went on by another half-percentage cut on March 20.

The Czech Republic's central bank on Wednesday cut its key interest rate for a third straight time amid falling inflation and an effort to help the economy, the Associated Press reported. The cut by a half-percentage point brought the interest rate down to 5.75%. The move was expected by most analysts. The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, which marked the first cut since June 22, 2022. It continued with a cut by a half-percentage point on Feb 8.

The Czech Republic’s central bank cut its key interest rate for the second straight time Thursday in an effort to help the struggling economy, the Associated Press reported. The cut by a half-percentage point brought the interest rate down to 6.25%. The bank also trimmed borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, which marked the first cut since June 22, 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, the bank unleashed a series of rate hikes to try to combat soaring inflation. The last hike of 1.25 percentage points took the rate to 7%, the highest level since early 1999.

A Czech court declared an overall moratorium on the debts of Liberty Ostrava on Thursday, a court document showed, as the country's main steelmaker idled production and prepared a recovery plan after its energy supplier cut it off, Reuters reported. Liberty's on-site supplier of energy including heat, pressurised air and electricity, Tameh, was expected to finish cutting off deliveries on Thursday after falling into insolvency itself when the steelmaker missed payments. Most of Liberty's 6,000 employees are to be sent home until January, the company has said.

The Febiofest film festival, which took place annually in Prague and other Czech cities and towns, is now in a state of bankruptcy, Czech Radio reported on Sunday. The founder of the cinema showcase, Fero Fenič, filed bankruptcy proceedings against the company which now owns it, saying that he did not receive payment after selling the festival and is owed CZK 4.5 million. The festival, which was created in 1993, did not take place this year. Read more.

The Czech central bank signaled that concern over inflation risks overshadows a weakening economy for now as policymakers left the door open to an interest-rate cut next month, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary panel voted to keep the benchmark rate at 7%, even as two out of seven members sought a quarter-point reduction. Governor Ales Michl said most central bankers decided to keep the policy “at a very restrictive level” to prevent excessive wage demands from triggering an inflation spiral.

The Czech government will scale back a planned loan from the European Union's post-COVID recovery fund to 19.4 billion crowns (805.75 million euros), from the initially planned 137 billion crowns, Industry Minister Jozef Sikela said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The reductions were made after consultations with the European Commission, which concluded some of the funding Czechia needs could come from other channels, Sikela said.