In Brief: News Szczecin Shipyard; Tesco and HIT; NBP on inflation forecast

By the middle of September the number of employees in the New Szczecin Shipyard will be increased up to 2,500 announced company president Andrzej Stachura. Meanwhile, the Protest Committee is still demanding employment for 5,500. Some of the best qualified workers of old shipyard have already found jobs in competing yards in Norway and Germany. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 7) ... The Office for Competition and Consumer Protection has given the green light for Tesco Polska to take over 17 HIT supermarkets, as after the merger Tesco would still not control over 40% of the market, the threshold forbidden by law. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) ... National Bank of Poland governor Leszek Balcerowicz on Thursday backed lower inflation assumptions being considered by the government for the 2003 budget, saying on a radio interview, "The modified forecasts are within the current range of forecasts of the national bank". The government wants to reduce next year's annual inflation forecast to 2.3% from an earlier 3.0%. (Reuters) A.D.