In Brief - 2003-08-21

Confectioner behind schedule, losing money
Estonia's Kalev, which has been moving its production facilities to new premises outside Tallinn, said it was falling behind its relocation timetable and that the delay was likely to cost up to 15 million kroons (950,000 euros).
"We took a bigger bite than we were able to eat," admitted Oliver Kruuda, chairman of Kalev.
Kruuda said that the company was around six weeks behind schedule. Operations at the new facilities had been scheduled to start at the end of July. Kruuda said that the disassembly, cleaning and reassembly of production equipment took more time than expected. What's more, the new premises do not yet have the necessary infrastructure such as power and water supply.
Although Kalev has run out of inventories, Kruuda said that he could see silver lining. "I could never have dreamed that people consider candies so important for life," he commented, adding that Kalev was determined to catch up with the backlog and that the plant would reach full capacity in September. (Baltic Business News)

Size does matter
Lithuania's large domestic market is the key reason why the country is outperforming Estonia in growth rates, according to Erik Terk, head of the Institute for Future Studies.
The latest economic data show that Lithuania has become a frontrunner among candidate countries in terms of economic growth, with this year's growth forecast at 7 percent. In comparison with the average growth of other Central and East European countries last year – 2.4 percent – Lithuania is doing exceedingly well.
In the words of Terk, "on the one hand Lithuania is going through the same economic cycle that Estonia passed slightly earlier. The second important difference is that Lithuania has a relatively large domestic market, and its economy is not so sensitive to exports." (BBN)

Estonia to overtake Finland?
Former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho (1991 - 95), who is also a leader of the Center Party, said he believed Estonia would pose an additional challenge for Finland in the not too distant future.
In an interview with Turun Sanomat on Aug. 18, Aho criticized the previous governments led by Paavo Lipponen for not securing Finland's position in the looming big changes that are sweeping over Europe and the Baltics. Aho predicted that the economy of Estonia would soon be better than that of Finland. He urged the government to make bold and brave decisions that could save Finland in the long run. (BBN)