News archive of November 2016

The German Ministry is in agreement, at least in principle, with the ESM’s proposal regarding the restructuring of Greece’s debt, according to an article in Handelsblatt.

European companies have expressed an interest in participating in the international tender that Hellenic Sugar Industry (EBZ) will call for the sale of the factories of its two subsidiaries in Serbia, EBZ president Christos Rossios stated. He added that the state firm's board meeting on Monday approved the tender process so that it can be announced immediately.

Tax revenues in Greece amounted to 66 billion euros in 2015, or 36.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product, up by a percentage point from 2014, according to the Revenue Statistics 1965-2015 report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). That is above the OECD member-state average of 34.3 percent of GDP.

Greek households spent a total of 26.78 billion euros on covering home-related expenses last year, a figure which amounts to 14.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product, according to data released on Tuesday by Eurostat. This concerns expenditure on rent, maintenance, cleaning, utility bills and central heating.

Nonperforming exposures (NPEs) of Greek banks will have to be reduced by 40.2 billion euros in the next three years, while bad loans (that do not include arranged debts) must go down by 38.1 billion, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the Bank of Greece.

“Greek-Turkish relations are a European issue,” declared the President of the Greek Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, today. “Those who think that international law is the law of the mighty are wrong.

An armed robbery at a bank in the seaside town Aghioi Theodoroi in Corinth on Wednesday has set off alarm bells in the police's counterterrorism force, as similarities emerged with past holdups linked to urban guerrilla groups.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has lashed out against comments by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan describing Cyprus's "shameful" use of its flag to represent the entire island and its disregard of the breakaway state in Turkish-occupied territory, saying that statements coming out of Ankara were fueled by a "might is right" attitude.

An earthquake has just been felt in the southern city of Blagoevgrad. 

Earlier, at 19:46 hrs, a 4.1-magnitude earthquake hit Greece.

There are no reports of damages or victims.

The government has approved EUR 601,617,133 from the budget surplus to be allocated as state assistance to the National Electric Company (NEK).

The funds must be used by the state venture to pay Russian Atomstroyexport for the equipment ordered for the Belene NPP.