Economics and finance are an inevitable part of everyday life for every individual. Economic decisions accompany us at every step: when buying products, saving money for education, retirement, or vacations, choosing a profession or a job, paying utility bills, loans, taxes, and so on. And how well-informed these decisions are directly impacts our individual and collective future.
We all want higher wages for less work. This explains why the four-day working week is such a popular topic in the media. But it is even less of a justification for the emotions that run high when the subject is discussed. These, in turn, prevent rational argumentation and consideration of all the problems with this popular proposal.
A new regulatory avalanche is rolling in on entrepreneurs. The Ministry of Labour is about to implement the EU Gender Pay Directive. This introduces new bureaucratic obligations for entrepreneurs. They will have to inform about the criteria they apply when setting wages in the company and define the pay procedure so that the employee knows what he or she has to do to get higher pay.
Bulgaria’s per capita gross domestic product in purchasing power parity terms has reached 64% of the European average in 2023. This is one of the indicators that most accurately shows convergence within the European Union, as it takes into account the differences in prices across countries and therefore gives fully comparable values.
The full-scale invasion has become the most exhausting challenge for Ukraine’s economy. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian business sector with strong medium-sized private enterprises has demonstrated outstanding resilience despite economic downfall, missile and drone attacks, and electricity outages. The IER research asserts that in the last two decades, Ukraine has grown a new private sector that secures Ukraine’s resistance.
Recently, relations between Ukraine and Poland can hardly be called good and neighborly. However, many things unite these countries, not divide. For example, cooperation in the energy sector. We discussed this at our first Ukrainian-Polish discussion within the framework of the “Ukrainian Path to European Union. Polish Accession Experience” project.
Amid full-scale Russian military aggression, Ukrainian businesses have showcased remarkable resilience, buoyed by enduring optimism even as uncertainty clouds the horizon. This sentiment emerges from the monthly surveys conducted by the Institute of Economic Research and Political Consultations (IER), providing valuable insights into the ever-changing landscape of business activity in times of war.
A global minimum tax model will reduce tax competition and put companies in a race for public subsidies. The idea of a minimum corporate tax rate of 15% for multinational groups, floating around in international platforms since 2013, has been implemented from the beginning of this year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development agreed on a new tax regime in 2021, followed a year later by the European Commission.
March 7, 2024, marks a significant date for the European Union and, potentially, the global digital landscape. A completely new set of rules for controlling competition will be fully applied. The Digital Market Act (DMA) reaches its final implementation milestone, aiming to create “fair digital markets” within the EU by curbing the influence of major tech companies.
While we import almost 3 million tons of green beans into the EU every year, we only import around 80,000 tons of roasted beans. The price of unroasted coffee on the exchange is usually between 40 and 120 CZK/kg (select unroasted coffee can be bought wholesale for around 250 CZK/kg, but prices can rise dramatically here).
