In Brief: Truck sales; Nowy Styl-Bene merger; ZUS liabilities; McDonald's

In January 2003, 1,502 trucks were sold which is 2.53% more than in co mparison to January 2002. Analysts warn car producers and dealers against being too optimistic and against forecasting annual revenues on the basis of this result. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) ... March 3 is the date for the merger between Nowy Styl, Krosno-based furniture producer and Austrian concern Bene. The merger will deal with designing offices and manufacturing office furniture. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) ... By the end of 2002 the liabilities of the Social Insurance Administration (ZUS) towards pension funds grew to zl. 9.5 billion, out of which zl. 2 billion is the value of interests on the debt. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3) ... The revenues of McDonald's in Poland in 2002 reached zl. 504.4 million, which gives it a zl. 15.7 million net profit. This year McDonald's plans to open 15 new restaurants. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) K.Z. Tax holidays and benefits likely to be axed as part of reform of public finances Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko presented President Aleksander Kwasniewski with a draft plan of reforming public finances. "It was agreed that the discussed changes would stimulate faster economic growth, improve living standards and increase enterprises' competitiveness," the President's Press Office said. On Wednesday Kolodko told Polish Radio that the government will put forward proposals aiming at easing the fiscal system and eliminating virtually all tax holidays and benefits. Earlier he said that he would propose a comprehensive reform of public finances in the second half of the year. The other objectives of the reform are absorbing money received from the EU and finding resources to pay Poland's contribution to the EU budget, which will be zl. 7 billion in 2004. (www.onet.pl) M.M.