• Energy company CEZ is expecting that next year wholesale price of electricity is going to increase by 24%. Exact price will be determined on Prague commodity exchange. Wholesale price increase is transformed into retail prices by one third.
• Ministry of Finance has not reached agreement with CSOB bank on payment of disputable claims from IPB bank. Minister Kalousek has not ruled out arbitration.
• New requests for unemployment benefits in the USA decreased to 339,000 while 322,000 was expected. Preliminary indicators increased by 0.1%, according to expectations.
• Chinese economy in the 1Q07 increased by 11.1%. Prime Minister Wen stated that measures against economy overheating should be adopted in time because cash reserve and loans are growing too fast.
According to Wen, China has to “double” its efforts for inflation stabilization.