Summed up

Jul 13, 2000

INTERNET BANKING: At the end of June, Estonian banks had a total of nearly 195,400 Internet clients, 9,300 more than a month before. The number of Hansapank's Internet clients increased by 6,000 in June to 136,000, and Uhispank got more than 2,500 new Internet clients during the month, bringing their number up to 50,600. Optiva Direct had nearly 8,300 Internet clients, 300 more than a month before. MeritaNordbanken, which became the fourth bank in Estonia to offer Internet services to its clients in June, saw the number of its Internet clients increasing to 483 by the end of the month.

SHIP AHOY: Estonia's shipyard Balti Laevaremonditehas has won a tender for the building of a 10 million to 15 million kroon ($61,000 to $92,000) buoy ship for the Russian port of Kaliningrad. Competing with Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and Rybinsk shipyards, BLRT won the deal thanks to a suitable price, flexible payment method and quality of work, BLRT spokesman Urmas Tooming said. The 90-ton ship, to be built on a commission by the maritime administration of Kaliningrad port, will be 22 meters long and six meters wide. BLRT engineering center director Yevgeny Kolesnikov said the order for the buoy ship was a considerable step towards access to the Russian shipbuilding market.

HELLO, CHINA?: The Finnish electronics industry subcontractor, Elcoteq, which owns a plant also in Tallinn, will this summer launch production of mobile phone components and assembly of GSM network devices in Beijing, the company told the Helsinki stock exchange. Elcoteq will also increase the capacity of its Dingguan plant in Southern China. Elcoteq forecasted that vigorous increase in its operations in China would make it possible for the group to nearly double its turnover year on year. Besides Beijing and Dingguan, Elcoteq also has a plant in Hong Kong.

MINDING THEIR KNITTING: One of the largest textiles manufacturers in Lithuania, Utenos Trikotazas, has increased its foreign and domestic sales this year. Over the first quarter, the company sold production for 62.3 million litas ($13.75 million), or 16.9 percent more than last year in the same period (53.3 million litas). "The company's growth wasn't halted by the fall of the euro or the Lithuanian economic crisis," Utenos Trikotazas general director Nijole Dubliauskiene said July 5.

GREEN POWER: Environmentalists may thwart the building of a billion kroon waste dump by threatening to file an application to the European Court against a contract between the City of Tallinn and the German firm SKP Recycling, which they claim is extremely dangerous to northern Estonia's environment. Chairman of the Maardu City Council Hans Vinkman, who fought for environmental problems of former phosphate mines in the area in the late 1980s, told the business daily Aripaev that the intended Joelahtme waste dump is extremely dangerous to the environment and in contradiction to directives of the European Union. Although the danger the project poses to the environment has been proved by research carried out by different scientific institutions, Vinkman is planning to order an unbiased ecological and economic opinion from the German state surveillance body TUV Nord.

FERRY GOOD: The passenger flow between Latvian and Swedish capitals has been steady since resumption of ferry runs on the route Riga-Stockholm, Mikhail Sholohov ferry agent Mono Linija President Valdis Silins said July 5. Since late May the ferry has carried 3,347 passengers, Silins said. In May 452 passengers took the ferry, including 371 persons from Latvia and 81 foreigners. In June, the Mikhail Sholohov carried 2,895 passengers, including 2,173 Latvian residents, 466 persons from Sweden and 256 people from other countries. Mono founded the company and holds 88 capital shares. Riga Passenger Port holds 10 shares, and Alfa Ostas Agentura shipping agent has two shares. The company has a charter capital of 250,000 lats ($417,000).

RESERVES UP: Bank of Latvia foreign reserves grew 3.5 percent ($30.97 million) in June to $904.53 million at the end of the month. The total includes $72.58 million in gold, $0.01 million in special drawing rights, $0.04 million in the reserve item with the International Monetary Fund and $831.9 million in convertible foreign currencies. As of May 31, the Bank of Latvia foreign reserves totaled $873.56 million, including $67.91 million in gold, $0.02 million in special drawing rights, $0.01 million in the reserve item with IMF and $805.62 million in convertible foreign currencies.

forgot password?