Embassy of Greece Business News section

 

 

Other Trade News:

Link Up Markets to begin operation on March 30

Link Up Markets, a consortium of eight European Central Depositories that account for 50 pct of securities transactions in Europe, will begin operations on March 30, 2009, the Athens Stock Exchange said on Tuesday.

Link Up Markets will facilitate the operation of participating Central Depositories with the aim to boost efficiency and reducing costs of cross-border transactions.  The operation of Link Up Markets will begin on March 30 with the connection of Clearsream Banking Frankfurt (Germany), OeKB (Austria), SIX SIS (Switzerland) and VP (Denmark), while Hellenic Exchanges (Greece) and Iberclear (Spain) will follow in June.

AMA-MPA Daily News Bulletin, Wednesday, February 4, 2009

 

Greek trade deficit down 20.8 pct in November 2008

Greece's trade deficit shrank by 20.8 pct in November totalling 2.444 billion euros, from 3.087 billion euros, in the same month in 2007, the National Statistics Service said on Monday.

Excluding oils, the trade shortfall fell by 9.2 pct or by 236.9 million euros in November 2007. The statistics service attributed this development to a 19.5 pct decline in the value of import-arrivals to 3.776 billion euros in November 2008, from 4.689 billion euros in November 2007, while the value of export-deliveries fell 16.9 pct.

 The trade deficit fell by 5.3 pct in the January-November 2008 period, compared with the corresponding period in 2007, for a shortfall of 31.368 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 33.115 billion euros in the same period in 2007. The value of import-arrivals fell 3.1 pct in the 11-month period, while the value of export-deliveries rose 1.5 pct over the same period.

AMA-MPA Daily News Bulletin, Tuesday, January 27, 2009

 

 

Foreign ministry unveils new portals

 

The Greek foreign minister on Monday unveiled two internet services (portals) for the business community and civil society, which was addressed by foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis.

The two services are the Agora portal (<http://www.agora.mfa.gr/>), and the portal for international funding (<http://www.aidfunding.mfa.gr/>) which is aimed at helping Greek businesses and NGOs make the most of development programmes implemented by multilateral financial institutions in developing countries.

At a time of a global financial crisis, in which the domestic demand is pressured and the country's traditional markets in Europe are in economic recession, enhancing the extroversion of the Greek private sector in order to preserve jobs and not lose robust business units was of great importance, Bakoyannis said in her greeting at the event.

She said that the upgraded Agora site contained information on tenders, acquisitions, business missions, sector exhibitions, more than 500 market surveys, business news, the institutional framework for investments in various countries, and Greece's bilateral relations.

According to ecretary General for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation Theodore Skylakakis, with the introduction of the Agora portal, the ministry was in effect transferring the matter of information from the ministry services around the world to online access, with every new item of information being uploaded directly onto the Agora site. This, he added, translates into 1200-1400 new information items every month from the ministry's 60 financial and commercial offices in 50 countries around the world.

 

AMA-MPA Daily News Bulletin, Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

 

 

 

Greek industrial production down in November 2008

Greece's industrial production composite index fell 5.9 pct in November, compared with the same month in 2007, the National Statistics Service announced on Friday. The service attributed the November decline to a 5.5-pct fall in manufacturing production, a 7.9-pct drop in electricity-natural gas-water production and 4.7-pct decline in mining production.

AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Saturday, January 10, 2009

 

Greek exports fall 15.5% in Nov.

 

Τhe value of Greek exports fell by 15.5 percent in November, compared with the same month in 2007, the National Statistics Service said on Friday. The statistics service, in a report, said the value of export-deliveries totaled 1.353 billion euros in November, from 1.6 billion in November 2007, while the value of import-arrivals totaled 4.029 billion euros, from 4.815 billion euros in 2007, for a decline of 16.3 percent.

AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Saturday, January 10, 2009

 

Greek food industry prepared for new challenges in '09

 

The Greek food Industry is preparing for a series of challenges ahead in 2009, after witnessing a surge in inflation, a spike in oil prices and raw materials and an unprecedented financial crisis last year. In a report, the industry said that economic conditions prevailed in 2008 affected prices trend in the food sector and noted that the Greek Food Industry, even under strong pressure, managed to adopt mechanisms to limiting the imposition of extra burdens to consumers.

A survey by the Institute for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) recently showed that food prices in Greece were around 10 pct cheaper compared with the European average in the vast majority of food products, with food prices rising an accumulated 8.3 pct in the 2006-2008 period, compared with a 12 pct increase in housing prices over the same period. Greek consumers have cut back their spending on food (by almost 22 pct since 1984), spending more on telephony, travel, insurance, holidays, entertainment.

AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Saturday, January 10, 2009

 

Hi-Tech sector meeting held in Patras

 

The Hi-Tech Innovators’ Meeting 2008 hosted by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board - HEPO in Patras attracted the interest of tens of businesses active in the sectors of information technology, software, research and advanced technology.

A total of 340 scheduled business meetings were held within the framework of the event last Friday, organized under the auspices of the ministry of economy and finance.

The meeting was attended 35 Greek firms and 45 repre-sentatives of companies from Egypt, Bulgaria, France, Germany, India, Spain, Israel, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

  AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Tuesday, December 16, 2008

 

 

 

Draft law on fund guaranteeing savings deposits and investments

 

The national economy and finance ministry-sponsored draft law on the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund, including the incorporation of directives 2005/14/EC on mandatory motor insurance and 2005/68/EC on reinsurance and other clauses, was tabled in parliament on Tuesday.

The Hellenic Deposit Guarantee Fund (HDGF) is the body responsible for the implementation and management of the Greek Deposit Guarantee Scheme, whose aim is to guarantee bank deposits. The fund will undertake to compensate depositors and investors that are clients of credit institutions unable to meet their obligations toward them.

 

AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Tuesday,  December 17,  2008

 

 

 

 

 

Inflation in Greece decreases to 3 pc in November 2008

 

Inflation in Greece decreased from 4 percent to 3 percent in November, compared to October, according to data by the Eurostat statistical service publicised here on Wednesday.

As regards the eurozone, inflation dropped from 3.2 percent in October to 2.1 percent in November, while a year ago it had been 3.1 percent. In the European Union, inflation decreased from 3.7 percent to 2.8 percent and a year ago it was 3.1 percent.

In November, the lowest inflation rates were recorded in Germany and Portugal (1.4 percent each) and the highest in Latvia (11.6 percent), Lithuania (9.2 percent) and Bulgaria (8.8 percent).

Compared to October, inflation decreased in November in all 27 EU member-states.

 

 

 

AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Tuesday,  December 18, 2008

Greek trade deficit lower, Eurostat reports

Greece's trade deficit reached 27.3 billion euros in the first nine months of 2008, a reduction of 1.6 billion euros relative to the same months in 2007, according to figures released by the European Union's statistics agency Eurostat on Thursday.

Greek exports came to 12.9 billion euros and imports were 40.2 billion euros, so that Greece's trade deficit was reduced from 28.9 billion euros to 27.3 billion euros in the past year.

This corresponds to a 1 percent increase in Greek exports (from 12.7 billion euros in 2007) and a 3 percent decrease in imports (from 41.6 billion euros in 2007).

Greece has the fourth-largest trade deficit in the European Union, after the UK with the highest trade deficit of 91.7 billion euros, Spain and France.

 

AMA-MPA Daily news Bulletin, Tuesday,  December 19, 2008