Economy Watch |

18102017Headline:

Pence reiterates U.S. support for credible debt relief for Greece in meeting with Tsipras

Ministers discuss creation of mechanism to collect arrears for Public Revenue authority
The creation of a unified mechanism to collect arrears to tax offices and pension funds on behalf of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue was discussed, among other issues, in an inter-ministerial [...]

Pavlopoulos, Stournaras briefed on TEE’s ‘ONEclickLIS’ online platform for investors
The head of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) Giorgos Stasinos on Wednesday had private meetings with President of the Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos and Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras, [...]

Greek banks have among the highest CARs in the eurozone, Karamouzis says

Economy
Hellenic American Union to hold conference on reforms in Greece on October 20-22
More than 40 distinguished speakers will discuss with each other and with the public the issue of reforms, in a conference organized by the Hellenic American Union on Oct. 20-22 in Athens. Reform, as a [...]
Economy
ELSTAT records 1.4% increase in Greek merchant fleet for August
The Greek merchant fleet increased by 1.4% in August 2017, compared with August 2016, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) announced on Wednesday, while there was no change (0.0%) recorded in August [...]
Economy
Study: Greek households slashed grocery-food spending in crisis years
The amounts spent by Greek households on grocery goods has fallen by 21.7 pct in the last seven years of deep economic crisis, according to a study by the Greek Research Institute of Retail Consumer Goods [...]

Economy
OLTH’s privatisation in its final stages, head of Greek privatisation agency says
An agreement handing over the concession for the Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH) could be signed by the end of the current month, the president of the Hellenic Asset Development Fund, Lila Tsitsogiannopoulou, [...]
Economy
Pitsiorlas: Privatisations and use of state assets will proceed
Deputy Finance Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas on Tuesday underlined that the government’s steadfast goal is to capitalise on state assets and proceed with privatisations, at the same time as reforming [...]
Economy
IOBE sees higher than 2 pct growth in 2018
Greece’s growth rate will fall slightly below 1.5 pct of GDP in 2017, according to estimates announced by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) and presented by its managing [...]

US Congress recognizes Greece’s importance for American interests, say gov’t sources

Politics
PM Tsipras has working dinner with business people in Washington
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had a working lunch with businesspeople at the Business Council for International Understanding in Washington on Wednesday. He will then make a keynote speech at Brookings [...]
Politics
Mitsotakis discusses needed reforms in Greece with European Commissioners
New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about the reforms the Greek economy needs during a meeting with European Commissioners in Brussels on Wednesday. “I had the opportunity to discuss with [...]

Politics
Greek parliament president condemns murder of Maltese journalist
Greek parliament president Nikos Voutsis on Wednesday expressed his abhorrence over the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and strongly condemned all attacks against the press, globally. In [...]
Politics
Papadimoulis: Trump’s statements reflect the fact Greece’s economy has improved
The benefit of the Greek Prime Minister’s meeting with the US president is that Trump’s statements lend support to Greece’s assertion that its economy has improved, European Parliament [...]

First migrant whose refugee application was rejected in an EU country to be returned to Greece by end-October

Society
Reps from tourism companies abroad visit the Messolonghi area
Twenty-five representatives of large travel organisations from thirteen countries were given tours of the municipality of Messolonghi, in central Greece, and the surrounding landmarks by local authorities. They [...]
Society
Part of Ionia Odos shut down for maintenance near Ioannina Oct ober 18, October 25
A section of Ionia Odos, running north-south in western Greece, will be out of circulation on for 24 hours on Oct. 18 and Oct. 25 for maintenance work in the Ambelia tunnels, the company responsible announced [...]
Society
Prosecutor recommends trial for ex head of Siemens in Greece over OSE contracts in 1999
Appeals prosecutor George Voulgaris recommended on Tuesday that former managing director of Siemens in Greece, Michael Christoforakos,and another six individuals should stand trial for bribery related [...]

Society
The 31st Race of Athens to be held on Sunday
Over 15,000 runners are expected to take part in the 31st Race of Athens that will be held on Sunday, October 22. Runners can register right up to the final moments before the race begins at the Panathenian [...]
Society
Russian passengers of yacht with engine failure rescued off Chios
A Super Puma airforce helicopter on Tuesday located and rescued eight Russian nationals stranded at sea in a Russian-flagged yacht with engine failure, about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Chios. The [...]
Society
Palaio Faliro coasts cleaning completed; beaches delivered to public
Greek authorities will on Tuesday deliver the first few beaches on the Saronic Gulf, which were polluted by the sinking of the oil tanker “Agia Zoni II”, for use by the public. These are on [...]

Business
Intrakat leases historic Kolokotroni St. building for boutique hotel
The Army Pension Fund (Metochiko Tameio Stratou) signed a contract with Intrakat, leasing a building on Kolokotroni Street 3-5 in Athens. The Fund’s three-floor building, whose surface area is 4,160 [...]
Business
Piraeus Bank selling its Serbian operations to local Direktna Banka
Piraeus Bank has entered into an agreement to sell its Serbian banking and leasing operations to Direktna Banka A.D., for a total cash consideration between €58mn up to €61mn, it said on Tuesday. Direktna [...]
Business
Cosmote to provide broadband connection to 47 remote Greek islands
Telecoms company Cosmote will provide free broadband connection to residents of 47 remote Greek islands, subsidized by the digital policy, telecoms and information ministry. Cosmote also said that it will [...]
Business
Jumbo Group says sales up 6.88 pct in 2016/2017
Jumbo Group on Monday reported a 6.88 pct increase in its sales in the year which ended in June 30, 2017, totaling 681.43 million euros, form 637.56 million the previous year. The company said that the [...]
Business
Intrasoft Int’l signs contract in Denmark
Intrasoft International announced the signing of a contract with Denmark’s finance ministry to implement a new revenue collection system in cooperation with Netcompany, a Danish company. The contract [...]
Business
DEPA to buy equity stake in Gastrade
DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation of Greece, will participate in a project to build an LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli. DEPA’s CEO Theodore Kitsakos and Gastrade SA CEO Constantinos Spyropoulos signed [...]