Summed up

  • 1999-09-23
POWER PARTNERS: Representatives from Lithuanian and Polish energy
companies finalized details Sept. 15 of a memorandum for a project to
link the two countries' energy systems. The document has been drawn
up by representatives of energy companies Lietuvos Energija and
Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne, as well as officials from the two
countries' Economic Affairs ministries. The two countries are hoping
to build an electricity link to Western Europe after several failed
attempts to attract private companies and investors to spearhead the
project. Implementing the project in Lithuania, which includes
construction of a hydroelectric facility, is estimated to cost 720
million litas ($180 million). The price tag on the Polish side will
add another 600 million litas, according to Lietuvos Energija.

OPEN BOOKS: The Estonian State Treasury will introduce a new 11
million kroon ($727,000) payment system aimed at rendering
expenditures from the state budget transparent, the Finance Ministry
reported. The system will make it possible to observe movement of
state money from the purchase of writing materials to the servicing
of cars and the payment of salaries, said Daniel Vaarik, an adviser
at the Finance Ministry.

FAULTY REASONING: Latvian Agriculture Minister Aigars Kalvitis said
statements made by the director of the sugar factory Jekabpils
Cukurfabrika about the lack of state support to the company are
absurd. Kalvitis said the government cannot allocate funds to the
factory whose shareholders may possibly apply for its insolvency
within one month. In addition, any investments now would simply be
taken by creditors, and neither the factory nor farmers would receive
any benefit. Kalvitis said the company should have called a general
meeting of shareholders in the summer when it was clear how dire the
factory's situation was.

MORE TOURISTS: Estonia's tourism department forecast that income from
tourist services in 1999 may reach 10 billion kroons ($661 million)
by the end of the year. The department said Estoina may also register
as many as 3.1 million tourists in 1999. The forecast represents a 7
percent increase from last year's results, when 2.9 million foreign
visitors set foot on Estonian shores and tourists services totaled
9.3 billion kroons. The lion's share of Estonia's foreign visitors in
the first half of 1999 were from Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia.

GAZPROM RECONSIDERS: Russia's Gazprom will not reduce gas supplies to
Lithuania now that the Lietuvos Dujos gas company has settled debts
with the Russian concern, reported Vidmantas Cepukonis, the
Lithuanian gas company's commercial director. Lietuvos Dujos
transferred 15 million litas ($3.75 million) into Gazprom's accounts
Sept. 16. Last week, Gazprom warned it would cut off supplies,
including shipments to Lithuanian Gas, by Sept. 25 if debts were not
paid. Lietuvos Dujos' consumers use some 3.2 million cubic meters of
gas per day. Gas consumption normally increases to 10 million to 11
million cubic meters in winter.

FISH SCARE: Latvia's National Veterinary Service said it has no
information to support claims by Belgian Health Minister Magda
Aelvoet that fish caught in the Baltic Sea are contaminated with
carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, a cancer-causing
substance. Aelvoet was quoted by Angent France-Press Sept. 16 as
saying that a high level of PCBs had been detected in Baltic Sea fish
and compared the health risk to the recent uproar over dioxin found
earlier this year in Belgian pork and chicken. It is unclear what
species of fish the minister referred to or how high the PCB content
was. PCB is considered a "cousin" of dioxin and is known to cause
cancer.

DRAFT BUDGET APPROVED: Latvia's Cabinet of Ministers signed off on a
draft 2000 budget that foresees a fiscal deficit of 2 percent of GDP,
a decrease from this year's 3.5 percent deficit. Finance Minister
Edmunds Krastins said the 2 percent deficit was agreed upon by the
Latvian government and the International Monetary Fund, which was
critical of the 1999 fiscal deficit. Revenues to the consolidated
budget are planned at 1.37 billion lats ($2.36 billion) and
expenditures at 1.43 billion lats with a fiscal deficit of some 80
million lats. Krastins said that these figures were subject to
adjustment.

MILLENNIUM FEARS: A rapid fall in the price of Eesti Telekom's stock
- from 85 kroons to 80.25 kroons - may be connected to foreign fears
of the Y2K bug, says Hansa Investment analyst Toomas Reisenbuk.
Foreign fund managers are pulling money out of many Central and
Eastern European companies because they fear insufficient preparation
for the potential computer crash. Reisenbuk pointed to Poland, where
the price of the local telecommunications company stock came down
very quickly, as the country was wracked by similar fears.