Economy Watch |

Lawmakers to vote on Constitution articles to be revised
Greek Parliament will vote on Thursday on which articles of the Constitution will be revised by the House that will be sworn in after this year’s elections. Lawmakers will have one ticket on which the [...]

United Nations received North Macedonia’s note verbale
The Secretary-General congratulated the two countries and Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev on their determination in creating a forward-looking vision for relations between the two countries [...]

Contactless transactions in Greece soared 3662 pct since 2016, MasterCard reports

Economy
EU Commission: The Prespes Agreement is an opportunity to promote economic cooperation
“The Commission has launched a study on sustainable economic development in the greater region of the Prespes Lakes, with particular emphasis on tourism,” said Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for [...]
Economy
Achtsioglou: Government fully ready to ensure compliance with higher basic wage
The labour ministry and the Labour Inspectorate are fully prepared to ensure compliance with the recently increased minimum wage, Labour Minister Effie Achtsioglou said on Wednesday, during a press conference [...]
Economy
ESM chief Regling for Greece: There are some “open issues” at the moment
Greece is expected to be disbursed 1 billion euros of profit returns on Greek bonds holdings (ANFAs and SMPs) within 2019, the Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regling [...]

Economy
The Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP) transforms state-owned enterprises (SOES)
The Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP) was established two years ago, with a goal, amongst others, to make state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in its portfolio more efficient and to ensure [...]
Economy
Regulation to provide generous ‘haircut’ in settling debts to social security funds
The regulation to settle debts to social security funds “will provide a generous ‘haircut’ up to 70 percent of a debt” and repayment in up to 120 installments, Deputy Social Security [...]
Economy
Env. Min. Stathakis: Electricity rates have been reduced two years in a row
“The electricity prices dropped for two consecutive years,” Environment and Energy Minister George Stathakis said on Wednesday, speaking at the “Alli Diastasi” programme of public [...]

Apostolakis and Hulusi Akar agreed to proceed on trust-building measures

Politics
Greeks in UK will need to travel to neighbouring EU countries to vote in European elections
Greeks in the United Kingdom who wish to vote in the European elections will have to travel to neighbouring European Union countries in order to vote, the Greek Embassy in London announced on Wednesday. [...]
Politics
Papadimoulis and Commissioner Moscovici discuss positive perspectives of Greek economy
With a positive agenda regarding Greek economy, European Parliament Vice President and head of SYRIZA MEPs Dimitris Papadimoulis met with European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Pierre [...]

Politics
Interior Ministry technically ready for simultaneous elections in May, Charitsis says
“The Ministry of Interior is technically ready to conduct simultaneous elections in May, including possible national elections,” Interior Minister Alexis Charitsis reaffirmed on Wednesday in [...]
Politics
DPA: Prime Ministers Tsipras and Zaev officially nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
According to information reported by the German News Agency DPA, the Norway-based award committee announced on Tuesday that over 300 nominations have been made for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize among which [...]

Gale-force winds and freezing cold as weather system ‘Chioni’ settles over Greece

Society
51 rescued, one missing when boat capsizes off Lesvos
A dinghy carrying 52 refugees and migrants of various nationalities capsized on Wednesday in waters to the northeast of the island of Lesvos. The Coast Guard has so far rescued 51 of the people on board, [...]
Society
Strong winds keep ships docked at ports
Strong winds reaching up to 10 Beaufort have kept ships docked at the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio. Authorities have also shut down the ferry links Pahi Megaron-Fanaromeni Salaminas, Oropos-Eretria, [...]
Society
Light tremor measuring 3.7R jolts the island of Rhodes
A light tremor measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale was felt on the island of Rhodes at 18:38 on Monday. The earthquake’s epicentre was located in the sea region 64 km east of Rhodes, at a focal depth [...]

Society
Police investigating reported robbery of Cote d’Ivoire honorary consul in Syntagma
Two unknown perpetrators stole the bag and passport of a 72-year-old woman serving as the honorary consul of the Cote d’Ivoire in Greece, according to a report filed at the Syntagma police station [...]
Society
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki cooperates with historic foundations for the establishment of a European University
Through the consortium of eight major universities – among which the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – France, Germany, Holland, Austria, Poland and Greece will cooperate to lead the developments [...]
Society
New draft amendment to ban Czech Republic dairy industry from calling local yoghurts ‘Greek’
In a victory for Greece’s dairy industry and farmers within the European Union, the Czech Republic has sent the European Commission a draft amendment to its national laws that will prevent Czech [...]

Business
Fraport Greece: 12.3 pct rise in passenger numbers for Greek peripheral airports
The number of passengers travelling to peripheral airports in Greece on Janurary was up by a 12,3 pct compared to January 2018, according to a Fraport Greece announcement. International passengers recorded [...]
Business
PPC can complete sale of lignite units before May elections, sources say
The Public Power Corporation (PPC) is in a position to complete the sale of its lignite units before the European elections in May, sources within PPC told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Monday. The [...]
Business
Piraeus port signs MoU with ports of Venice, Chioggia
The ports of Piraeus, Venice and Chioggia on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding seeking to develop port services and to promote trade flows between Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East. The [...]
Business
Piraeus Bank presents new generation winbank services
Piraeus Bank on Monday presented the next generation of winbank services, offering financial management tools. The new services, winbank web banking and winbank mobile application offer personal financial [...]
Business
Hellenic Healthcare owns 96.45 pct of Hygeia
Hellenic Healthcare on Monday announced that its equity stake in Hygeia – a Greek-listed clinic – totaled 96.45 pct after the successful completion of a public offer scheme which ended on February [...]
Business
Two binding bids in tender for PPC’s lignite units
Two bids were submitted in an international tender to sell Public Power Corporation’s lignite units in Melitis and Megalopoli, PPC sources said on Wednesday. The same sources said that PPC asked candidates [...]