News Parkiet

Public finances

Marek Belka proposes tax code changes

Prime minister Marek Belka wants to raise taxes for the top half of Polish taxpayers to encourage the bottom half to declare greater part of their income.

Belka, who became prime minister in early May said he would like to increase income tax exemptions to reduce gray labor market. Right now taxpayers who make less than 2800 zloty per year don?t pay any income tax.

?25 of the poorest taxpayers would benefit from these changes. The upper half will lose to one extent or another. Someone?s got to pay for these savings?, Belka said on Friday.

A similar plan two years ago by Marek Belka, then an SLD finance minister never even made it to the parliament because of the public outcry.

Equity markets

Omhex buys Vilnus bourse

Nordic stock exchange operator Omhex AB has agreed to buy Lithuania?s sole stock exchange in a privatization sale completed on Friday. Omhex, which already owns 27 percent of the Vilnus bourse bought the state?s 44.3 percent stake, plus 32 percent of Lithuania?s clearing house, the country?s Central Securities Depository.

Omhex officials commenting on the sale said they are keeping a close watch on Poland?s plans to privatize the Warsaw Stock Exchange. WSE together with Euronext made its own bid for the Lithuanian stock market earlier this year.

Banking

Credit union assets pass PLN 3.5 billion mark

SKOK credit unions are increasing assets at a much faster rate than regular banks thanks to higher interest rates on customer deposits and cheaper loans. Total loan portfolio of SKOK unions grew 36 percent to 2.33 billion zloty at the end of March compared with the same period last year. Term deposits rose at a similar rate to PLN 3.27 billion compared with just 1 percent annual growth rate for commercial banks.

SKOK credit unions typically pay as much as three percentage points more for term deposits compared with the 3 to 3.5 percent at regular banks.

At the end of March, non-profit unions had almost 1400 branches across Poland. Total membership grew to about 984.000 at the end of the first quarter.

Credit union assets are insured by the Polish government and by TUW, a specialty insurer run by the industry.

Investment funds

Investment fund may build private cemetery in Kraków

NFI Magna Polonia investment fund has found a novel use for a run-down warehouse in downtown Kraków it purchased several months ago. Publicly traded fund says it may turn the property, adjacent to city?s historical Rakowicki cemetery into a new, private burial ground. The fund, which paid almost 8 million zloty for the 35.000 square meter lot says the project is still at a very early stage because of various administrative permits it needs to run its own cemetery.

Typical burial fee at Rakowicki, Kraków?s most famous cemetery cost about 3000 zloty or 770 US dollars.

Power industry

PKE plans major bond issue

Południowy Koncern Energetyczny, Poland?s largest electricity maker is considering a 500 to 600 million zloty corporate bond issue to pay for the expansion and upgrades. State-owned PKE needs the money to complete a new 400 million euro power block at Łagisza power plant.

Food industry

Elstar Oils IPO ten times oversubscribed

Initial Public Offering of vegetable oil maker Elstar Oils was almost ten time oversubscribed, company officials said on Friday. The company raised 45 million zloty minus IPO costs, but there was enough initial demand for almost one billion zloty ($260 million).

Statistics

GNP rises 6.5 pct. in the first quarter

Poland?s Gross National Product rose 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2004 because of strong retail sales and industrial output, Main Office of Statistics (GUS) said on Friday confirming previous data by the Economy Ministry.

Separately GUS said retail consumption rose as much as 30.6 percent in April compared with the same period last year. Hoarding because of fears of higher prices before EU entry on May 1st contributed to stronger retail sales, GUS officials said.

Interest rates

MPC may raise interest rates, Hausner says

Central bank?s Monetary Policy Council could raise interest rates as early as next month, deputy prime minister Jerzy Hausner said on Friday adding that higher rates are preferable to a resurgence of inflation, despite their impact on GNP growth. ?It?s possible that the MPC will try to stop inflation growth by limiting money supply?, Hausner said.