Economy and Development Ministry

A new bill on strategic investment incentives tabled on Monday by the Economy and Development Ministry provides for tax exemptions and fixed tax status, as well as the favorable taxation of foreign officials involved in major investments in Greece.

The German Embassy in Athens and the German-Hellenic Chamber of Industry and Commerce announced on Wednesday that they are offering their support to this year's InvestGR Forum for Foreign Investments in Greece, to take place in June.

Greece on Monday issued the first licences to private companies for growing medicinal cannabis in the country, part of an attempt to tap a burgeoning market worth billions.

The Economy and Development Ministry plans to submit a bill by the end of the year that will expand the criteria needed for an investment to be considered "strategic."

The Economy and Development Ministry on Friday approved the investment plans of 1,170 new businesses out of 5,626 that had applied to be included in the "New Enterpreneurship" program funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework 2014-2020.

The authorities are expected to impose a two-month price cap on fuel prices in the southern Aegean islands where unleaded gasoline has soared to almost 2 euros per liter.

The Regional Authority of the Southern Aegean has sent a letter to the Economy and Development Ministry asking for a price cap on fuel prices that have seen gasoline soar to almost 2 euros per liter.

On the Cyclades islands the average price comes to 1.881 euros/lt at gas stations, while motorists on Santorini are already paying 1.995 euros/lt at the pumps.

The Economy and Development Ministry has announced funding to the tune of 3 million euros for islands in the southeast and northern Aegean that receive migrant and refugee inflows.

The money, drawn from national and European funds, will be used to cover waste management needs, which have increased drastically due to the increased arrivals of migrants and refugees.

Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis is to assume the portfolio of the Economy and Development Ministry after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was forced to moderately reshuffle his cabinet on Wednesday, following the resignation of two ministers this week. 

The world's biggest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), is poised to receive a license to operate in Greece, with sources telling Kathimerini that negotiations are already at an advanced stage.