Christos Staikouras

European Investment Bank (EIB) president Werner Hoyer announced ambitious plans for major investments in Greece in 2020 during a visit to Athens for talks with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and other government officials today.

Partnership with National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank

Greek banks may soon be allowed to purchase more sovereign bonds issued by the country, its finance minister said on Thursday, a step which would boost demand and push country's yields even lower.

The government is seeking to dig Greece out of a debt hole to the tune of three billion euros created by five of Greece's state-run corporations (DEKO).

After the expiry of the concession of the old Athens airport at Elliniko, on the city's southern coast, the Greek state will retain ownership of the integrated casino complex, the marina, the marina hotel and the marina mall, and another six major plots plus one more where another hotel may be built, Kathimerini can reveal.

One in every two borrowers who have come under the protective umbrella of the Katseli law is a strategic defaulter, while there are similar indications about one in every three debtors who entered the existing platform for the protection of their main residence, and for one in every three whose properties are set to be auctioned, as they find the money to pay off their dues, Finance Minister Ch

Greece needs more "fiscal space in the next two years" via lower primary surplus targets in order to implement the recently elected center-right government's economic policies, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said.

"We are emphatic about this and present good arguments," he told Germany's Der Spiegel in an interview over the weekend.

The government will need to secure positive reports from its creditors on the reforms front in the next assessments and see the economy keep advancing if it wants a favorable response to its requests, such as a reduction in the primary surplus targets and the use of SMP and ANFA proceeds for investments, according to European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni's talks on Thursday with

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni is arriving in Athens on Thursday for a series of meetings with key officials in the context of the European Semester, the EU's cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination among member states.

Owners of small and medium-sized property will come out on top following the adjustment of the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) in 2020.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis and French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, signed a declaration of intent on the Greek-French economic partnership in Paris on Wednesday, aimed at boosting investments.