14 January 1999
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Tatarstan's Government Encouraging Investment
Under a new law on investment in Tatarstan, a reduced tax burden will be introduced for the banks handling loans for the republican investment program. Under this scheme, republican taxes will not be imposed on the bank profits from those loans, though the federal tax will remain. The combined republican and federal profit tax is 45 percent, one-third of which is the federal tax.
Tatneft Releases 1998 Results
Due to the fall in oil prices on the world market in 1998, the average price of oil exported by Tatneft dropped by 40 percent. Some 22.47 million tons of oil were delivered to the customers while the total amount extracted was 24.44 million tons. Tatneft officials said that in 1998 they succeeded in lowering production costs by 36 percent after the financial crisis in Russia erupted.
Tatar President On The Internet
On 12 January the homepage of Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev was made public and can be seen at: www.tatar.ru/president. Six sections of the site are devoted to Shaimiev's biography, his family and guiding principles, and his staff and hobbies. The page will be available in Tatar, English, and Russian. The launch of the English and Tatar variants of the page is scheduled for February and March, respectively. The web domain Tatar.ru and Shaimiev's site are maintained by the president's Department of Foreign Affairs. These 2 sites contain 500 subdivisions, 300 of which are in Russian and 200 in English.
Teachers' Wages Arrears Are Reduced
Tatarstan's Ministry of Education announced on 11 January that back wages from 1998 for the teachers in Etne, Chuprele, Cheremshan and the Teleche regions had been paid in full. Wages arrears for the last six months remain in Chally and a five-month backlog exists in the Yashel Uzen and Aznakay regions. In other regions of Tatarstan wage arrears exist for the previous two or three months. During the first 10 days of 1999 the employees of the republic's Ministry of Education received 161 million rubles in wages.
KamAZ Among Leaders In Paris-Dakar Race
The republican press reported that Victor Moskovskikh of the KamAZ racing team finished first in the Timbuktu to Nema stage of the Paris to Dakar race on 12 January. He finished 22 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Karl Lopranz of the Tatra team.
Compiled by I.Nurmi