According to the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Vladimír Dlouhy, the current economic crisis is worse than the pandemic. Expensive energy has a fatal impact on companies and, according to him, social unrest cannot be ruled out. The government has so far underestimated the situation of businesses, he said. Dlouhý sees a solution in capping prices, especially gas. He would prefer a pan-European to a national solution. He said this at a press conference yesterday.
According to the current survey of the Chamber of Commerce, 18 percent of companies will lay off workers by the end of the year, mainly due to high energy prices. In the case of large enterprises with more than 500 employees, up to 27 percent of companies will proceed with layoffs. This will mainly concern companies in the construction and manufacturing industries. According to the Chamber of Commerce, expensive electricity and gas have the greatest impact on energy-intensive fields such as bakeries, glassworks or smelters.
Dlouhý also pointed out that for the first time after several months there has been a significant turn, when companies plan to lay off more people than to hire them. Ten percent of companies expect an increase in the number of employees in the second half of the year compared to the first half.
“We live in a time of deep economic and especially energy crisis, non-standard solutions need to be adopted,” said Dlouhý. He pointed out that companies are struggling with the fact that the newly concluded energy contracts are beyond their financial capabilities, some entrepreneurs will not be able to secure electricity and gas at all, because some suppliers have stopped accepting new customers.
The government, the opposition and the unions should now unite and ensure an effective solution to the crisis, said Dlouhý. If the EU Energy Council fails to reach an agreement on price ceilings on September 9, the Czech Republic should prepare national measures, according to Dlouhé.
In connection with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the European Commission presented a temporary crisis framework at the end of March, which enables member states to immediately support companies as a result of expensive energy and anti-Russian sanctions. The Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (for STAN) said today that the time has come for help and that he plans to help the industry based on this measure.
Dlouhý appreciated that the minister wants to use the temporary crisis framework after the long-term challenges of the trade unions. “The businessmen would be very angry with me if I said that I don’t want compensation if the government gave it. Of course I would welcome it. But the crisis is already so deep that, I think, no money is enough to compensate fully. It really the economy can have a severe impact and, as a result, a great danger of inflation,” he said. In addition, more companies will need compensation than due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It is therefore necessary to use other tools, such as price ceilings, he added
Source: CTK
