The Ministry of Agriculture has announced an extraordinary aid package for farmers affected by drought, totaling over 3.8 billion crowns, and confirmed that the harvest in the Czech Republic is almost complete. The energy regulatory authority has increased indicative prices for electricity and gas. The price of gold has risen above $4400 per ounce. The Prague Stock Exchange closed trading on Monday virtually unchanged.
Farmers affected by drought will receive extraordinary support and relief in subsidy conditions. The Ministry of Agriculture announced the planned aid package today. The ministry plans to allocate more than 3.8 billion crowns from the EU budget, supplemented by national funds, to farmers.
The harvest is almost complete. After approximately two months of work, farmers have only about one percent of the area of grain and rapeseed left to harvest. This year's harvesting process has been accelerated by sunny weather - at this time last year, farmers had harvested significantly less. The yield of cereals reaches nearly 6.316 million tons; compared to last year's harvest, this year's yield of monitored cereals is lower, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Prague Stock Exchange closed Monday's trading almost unchanged. The PX index fell by a negligible 0.01 percent to 2,789.73 points.
The energy regulatory authority has increased indicative prices for electricity and gas for households. Customers who have been waiting to switch to another supplier or sign a new contract may soon be paying more, according to the Kalkulátor.cz website, citing Monday's announcement by the regulator.
The flow rates of Czech rivers are at historical lows due to this year's drought. The government is reminding people of previous billion-crown investments in water management projects and rejecting criticism from the opposition regarding the handling of climate risks. The situation is most critical on smaller streams in central and southern Bohemia.
The price of gold is rising and has returned above $4400 per troy ounce. Analysts at XTB and other firms speculate whether precious metals are betting on a dovish approach by the US Federal Reserve at the end of the year. Gold has strengthened by more than 11 percent since its June low.
In Prague, 7878 active entire apartments or houses offered through the Airbnb platform were registered in June of this year. A new analysis by the "Prague Housing Under a Microscope" project compared these figures with the size of Prague's housing deficit and points out that short-term rentals are exacerbating the lack of affordable long-term housing in the city.
gnews.cz - GH