Off the wire

ELECTRICITY GOING EAST: The Russian company Inter RAO UES has signed an agreement to buy electricity from the state-run power utility Lietuvos Energija for export to Belarus, a Lithuanian official said on April 20. The export of electricity will begin as soon as Lietuvos Energija receives guarantees from the Russian bank Sberbank, said Valdas Jurkevicius, deputy director of the commercial department at the Lithuanian company. "We expect to have everything ready in a week's time," he said. Under the agreement, Inter RAO UES is to buy up to 5 billion kilowatt-hours of Lithuanian electricity for export to Belarus annually. The Russian company is to pay 0.04 litas ($0.01) per kilowatt hour. Jurkevicius said Inter RAO UES had not signed the second agreement, providing for the export of electricity to Kaliningrad, because certain technical details had to be finalized by Russian institutions. Under the deal, Inter RAO would buy up to 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity for export to Kaliningrad, the Russian region bordering Lithuania, paying 0.04 litas per kilowatt hour.

TAX REFORM EYED: Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said that the current tax system in Lithuania is more beneficial for holders of large capital and expressed his doubt about the government's intention to start tax reform by cutting taxation on capital gains. "The question arises why income from employment is proportionally more heavily taxed than income from capital," Adamkus said in his annual report to the Lithuanian Parliament. In his view, the government should carefully evaluate the consequences of scrapping the legal person's profit tax, 24 percent of which will be revoked starting January 1, 2002. The tax reform should start with increasing the amount of tax-free income. That would have a positive effect on every citizen's purchasing power and consumption as well as on the domestic market and economy, he added. The Lithuanian government announced on April 19 that it will suggest the Parliament increase the tax-free minimum income from 214 litas ($53.50) to 250 litas, with this figure reaching 320 litas by 2004.

TRUSTEES GET RICHER: The monthly salary of state trustees in the partially state-owned, fixed-line-telephone monopoly Lattelekom will be doubled as of April 1, to 1,000 lats ($1,600), the governing board of the Latvian Privatization Agency ruled April 19. Previously the salary of Lattelekom state trustees was established as 10 minimum monthly wages or 500 lats per month. There are three state trustees for Lattelekom. Lattelekom state trustees' salaries were revised under government regulations which took effect April 1. These regulations lay down the number of state trustees in state-owned companies as well as the amount of salaries to be paid to trustees depending on the size of the company and other factors.

STEVEDORE TO ADD VALUE: Stevedore Ventamonjaks, which operates in the Latvian port of Ventspils, plans to begin processing products it reloads to give added value to the cargo, said the company's finance and economics director, Laimonis Strujevics. He told the BNS agency the company was now studying and analyzing market demand for new products as they would ensure the terminal's operations in case Russia cuts off exports shipped through Ventspils. According to Strujevics, Ventamonjaks is considering the possibilities to do primary processing of liquid chemical and oil products. The stevedore is based on the premises of the free port and has the capacity for constructing a processing facility and launching production. In the first quarter of 2001, Ventamonjaks reloaded 458,000 tons of cargo, up by 111 percent compared with the same period last year. The company hopes to achieve an annual cargo turnover of 1.53 million tons in 2001.

IMF GIVES ESTONIA OK: Estonian Finance Minister Siim Kallas said an International Monetary Fund mission, which held consultations in Estonia last week, gave a favorable opinion of Estonia's economic development. "On the whole they were very positively disposed and could see no particular major problems here," Kallas said April 20. The main question for Estonia is that of budgetary balance and policy in a wider connection with economic policy, Kallas said. He stressed there was a long discussion with IMF representatives on how to precisely define the figure of balance of the government sector. The state budget and local budgets are kept strictly apart in Estonia in accordance with the constitution, but by international methods, their deficits are common, Kallas said. He added that the IMF delegation commended Estonia for its reform of the budgetary process. "In particular, they said that we have good access via the Internet to a detailed survey of the implementation of the budget, and this is not very common anywhere in the world," he said.

INFLUENCE DENIED: Most Latvians believe they're not purchasing new goods or services under the influence of commercials. A public opinion poll conducted by the polling firm SKDS in March shows 65.1 percent of residents believe they are not buying new goods under the influence of commercials. A year ago this segment was 66.3 percent. But 31.2 percent admitted commercials have an influence on their purchases, up from 30.3 percent a year ago. The poll shows that advertisements have a bigger influence on wealthier people, while young people are more inclined to admit the influence of ads. The poll was conducted in March questioning 1,003 people in the age group of 18 to 74 years.

WANNA CHOPPER? The Tallinn-based taxi company Tulika Takso started to provide helicopter taxi services on April 23. The two- and four-seat choppers can be ordered for flights in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Sales secretary Ivika Aariste said that clients can order through Tulika Takso Carelia Copter's two two-seaters and one four-seater. She said the firm offers helicopters at the price of a return flight. With a chopper seating two, the price of one flight hour without value-added tax is 6,900 kroons ($397) and with a four-seater, 11,500 kroons. A trip to Kuressaare, the capital of the western island of Saaremaa, for example, costs respectively 14,100 kroons and 23,000 kroons, to Riga - 20,700 kroons and 34,500 kroons, and to Vilnius - 41,400 kroons and 69,000 kroons.