Titoli di Stato area Euro GRECIA Operativo titoli di stato - Cap. 1

[tommy271]

PPC eyes foreign expansion -CEO-INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1




Friday October 08, 2010 10:29:07 AM GMT

PPC/ (INTERVIEW, UPDATE 1)
* PPC eyes hydro projects in Balkans, Romania, Turkey - CEO
* Sees gradual market share drop at home



By Harry Papachristou


ATHENS, Oct 7 (Reuters) - PPC, Greece's biggest electricity producer, will expand abroad to offset market share losses at home as the debt-laden country liberalises its power market, the head of the utility said.
"Liberalisation means that PPC will shrink in Greece," chief executive Arthouros Zervos told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "If we want to maintain our size, we have to expand in other markets."


Greek companies are looking to boost business abroad to compensate for losses at home as Greece goes through its worst recession in almost 40 years due to austerity measures put in place to deal with a debt crisis..
State-controlled PPC is set to win a project to build four hydro-power plants in Bosnia and is also looking to clinch similar orders in Romania and Albania, Zervos said.


PPC will also be looking for deals in Turkey after trial runs last month to connect its power grid to the European network.
"It is mostly the construction and development of hydro plants and renewables we are looking at," Zervos said.
Zervos expects PPC to lose about 10 percent of the retail market and about 20 percent of the power generation market over the next three years as a result of the European Union and International Monetary Fund imposed deregulation of the electricity market.


"I expect our market share to decline slowly, by about 10 percentage points in the retail market. In generation, I think we will stand at about 70 percent," Zervos said. PPC currently has 97 percent of the retail and about 90 percent of the wholesale market.

 

[tommy271]

PM briefed on 'Clarity' programme


ANA-MPA.gr - Prime Minister George Papandreou visited the National Printing Office on Wednesday and was briefed by Interior Minister Yiannis Ragoussis on the programme "Clarity" (diavgeia) designed to promote transparency in the public sector. This will require that all laws and administrative acts by the public sector be posted on the Internet.


Afterward, Papandreou stressed that the programme would help combat several bad practices "that we have all experienced". Had this programme been enforced earlier, he added, many of well-known scandals would have been prevented or at least stopped at a much earlier stage.
Papandreou said that the programme would also help reveal weaknesses in the public sector that were not necessarily the result of corruption or graft but simply caused by a bad organisational structure, a surfeit of laws and overlapping legislation.


The prime minister also stressed the programme's potential as a tool for growth, saying that the government intended to "raise the bar" and locate which problems were easily fixed and which required more radical change in order to create a simple and efficient public administration for all citizens and all investors, both Greeks and foreigners.
Elaborating on this point, Papandreou said that many potential investors had expressed reservations about investing in Greece because of the lack of transparency, the multitude of overlapping laws and a labyrinthine public administration system. Congratulating the team responsible for the programme, he also stressed that ordinary citizens should participate in the effort by helping pinpoint the problems.

 

[tommy271]

Revision Of Greece΄s 2009 Deficit May Weigh In 2011 Budget



On the 22nd of October, the day Eurostat will reveal how much the Greek 2009 deficit will be upwards revised, it will become known whether the 2011 budget will once again change incorporating additional measures.

The new data will be processed by the troika auditors that arrive in Athens on the 15th of November, so as to finalize the 2011 budget that will be tabled to the parliament on the 18th of November.

The time is stifling and the huge degree of uncertainty. Yesterday, EU representatives have avoided the lengthy explanations given for the issue of Greek statistics diligently to mention the phrase "new measures".

EU spokespersons yesterday left open the possibility for changes in the Memorandum. According to some commentators this does not mean the implementation of additional austerity measures, while the Finance Minister assured that the impact of the revision in this year΄s budget will be small).

EU officials acknowledge that it is extremely difficult for the Greek economy to abs.

(Capital.gr)

 

[tommy271]

Samaras: PM deceived the electorate


ANA-MPA/Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Antonis Samaras, speaking in the city of Lamia, central Greece, on Wednesday night, accused Prime Minister George Papandreou of "deceiving the electorate", and warned that "a lie has short legs, as our people say," commenting on a statement by German former finance minister Peer Steinbrueck on the state of the Greek economy.
"Today we were all informed by Mr. Peer Steinbrueck, the former finance minister of Germany, that Mr. Papandreou, who promised everything to win the elections, had been very well aware, as early as January 2009, of the state of the economy," he said.
Continuing his address at the Labour Centre in Fthiotida, he further said "when therefore, he (Papandreou) was saying that 'money exists', he was lying purposely".
"From this alone one can realise the responsibility and credibility of this government and draw one's conclusions as to what will follow if Mr. Papandreou considers the election result of November a good one," Samaras said, adding that "for this reason we shall send to them our message clearly in the upcoming local administration elections."


(Ana.gr)

 

[tommy271]

Qui trovate la cronaca, da parte cinese, del business summit EU/Cina:

Premier Wen's speech at Sixth China-EU Business Summit

Tra le righe si legge: "The EU is a strategic partner to China, and China did not look on unconcerned when some eurozone countries were in trouble. We continued to hold and buy euro-denominated bonds and helped Iceland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy in their most difficult time".

 

[tommy271]

Greece ‘regaining trust’

In Brussels PM hails China deals, but in Athens PASOK has regional election strife


Greece’s agreement for further cooperation with China is a sign that the country is regaining its international credibility, Prime Minister George Papandreou said yesterday in Brussels, as the trustworthiness of his government on the domestic stage took another blow when it had to replace one of its candidates for local elections after it was revealed that the office seeker had been charged in connection with an alleged property scam.


Speaking on the sidelines of the EU-China summit in the Belgian capital, Papandreou presented the deals agreed to last weekend by Athens and Beijing as proof that Greece is beginning to recover from the economic crisis and that its partners can trust the country again. “The visit by the Chinese premier [Wen Jiabao] was a vote of confidence, not only in Greece but in Europe and the euro,” said Papandreou at the end of the meeting, during which Europeans urged China for a faster appreciation of its currency to help rebalance the world economy.


However, presented with an opportunity to address foreign journalists, Papandreou was keen to focus on the strides that Greece has made over the last few months. “A year ago, we were on the edge of a precipice, but today the effort and sacrifices of the Greek people are helping us rebuild trust internationally. Greece is not the same country it was last year.”
Papandreou also met with Indian Vice President Mohammad Ansari on the sidelines of the talks in Brussels. The two men discussed possible cooperation between the two countries in the areas of tourism, technology, shipping and culture. Papandreou was then due to fly to Belgrade for further talks there.


At home, however, his government was experiencing some turbulence in its preparations for the November 7 local elections, as PASOK’s candidate for deputy regional governor for the Cyclades, Dimitris Bailas, was removed from the race. The move came after Kathimerini published an article reminding readers that Bailas, the current Cyclades prefect, along with five others, had been charged in connection with the construction of dozens of illegal homes on several Cycladic islands.
PASOK announced that it was withdrawing Bailas’s candidacy but dodged questions about why he had been included on the party’s ticket.


(Kathimerini.gr)


***
Prospettive e lineamenti in politica interna/estera.

 

[tommy271]

Association of Greek Mobile Operators...



The high taxation imposed on mobile phone users is resulting in a loss of revenues for the state and weighing on the sector’s ability to contribute to job growth and the broader economy, according to survey results presented yesterday. In a study commissioned by the Association of Greek Mobile Operators, Greece’s high tax levels, the highest in Europe, have resulted in the sector slashing some 17,000 jobs and contributing 70 million euros less in taxes and social security contributions in 2010 than in 2009.

(Kathimerini.gr)

 

[tommy271]

Deficit and debt holes get bigger


Eurostat expected to revise 2009 budget data higher; Moody’s impressed by Greece’s reform efforts




A closer look at 2009 budget data shows even larger holes appearing in Greece’s deficit and debt figures at a time when government efforts to improve the country’s fiscal health are beginning to be noticed.


European Union statistics agency Eurostat is expected to revise significantly higher Greece’s 2009 budget deficit in an announcement expected toward the end of October, a senior government source said yesterday. The same source played down the impact on the 2011 budget, which was unveiled on Monday.


Another source indicated that the 2009 shortfall will rise to 15.1 percent of gross domestic product from 13.8 percent previously stated. The change will also include an upward revision of government debt to 127 percent of annual economic output, versus 115.1 percent previously.


With the fiscal figures for 2009 changing, this raises the questions of whether Greece can meet the ambitious targets set in the 2011 budget plan, which aims to lower the deficit to 7 percent of economic output in 2011 from the stated 7.8 percent this year.
The upward revisions are due to the inclusion of money owed by state companies, such as the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), into general government accounts along with financial derivatives, called swaps, conducted by the government, the source added.


Meanwhile, ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday that Greece’s drive to overhaul its public finances is impressive and the risk to the country’s sovereign rating forecast “is to the upside” if the reforms continue. “We’ve been impressed by what the Greek government has done in term of reforms,” Anthony Thomas, a London-based senior analyst at the ratings company, said yesterday at a credit conference in Warsaw, Bloomberg reported. “If that continues, the risk to the forecast is to the upside.”


Moody’s cut Greece’s credit rating to noninvestment grade on June 14 as the country struggled to rein in the euro region’s second-biggest deficit.
Moody’s cited “substantial” risks to economic growth from the austerity measures tied to a 110-billion-euro aid package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in downgrading the rating to Ba1 from A3.


The premium that investors charge to hold Greek 10-year bonds rather than those of Germany, Europe’s benchmark, rose 1 basis point to 778 basis points.


(Kathimerini.gr)

 

[tommy271]

ATHEX: Participation Of Foreign Investors At 49.8% In September



The participation of foreign investors in total market capitalization of ATHEX reached 49.8% in September, from 49.3 % the previous month, Athens Exchange said Thursday.

Total turnover shaped at EUR2.4 billion, increased by 40% compared with August 2010 but decreased by 56% compared with September 2009.

Total ATHEX capitalization closed at EUR55.9 billion, decreased by 8% since August 2010 and by 43.5% since September 2009.

Foreign investors in September 2010 made 47.3% of total turnover.

Net capital outflow from foreign investors valued of EUR125.1 million while net capital inflow from Greek retail investors valued of EUR94.2 million.

Net capital inflow from Greek institutional investors valued of EUR1.5 million.

The number of Active investors’ Shares reached 68.8 thousand, with 65% increase since previous month (41.6 thousand)
3.460 New investors’ Shares were registered, with 136% increase since previous month.

Loses in the price of ATHEX Composite Share Price Index by 5.42% since the beginning of the month.

(Capital.gr)

 

[tommy271]

Greece to meet 2010 deficit goal despite revision- PM


ATHENS | Thu Oct 7, 2010 4:15am EDT


ATHENS Oct 7 (Reuters) - Greece will shrink its budget deficit in line with EU/IMF targets this year despite an expected upward revision of last year's budget gap by Eurostat, the country's prime minister said on Thursday.
"Despite the new revisions by Eurostat we will meet the targets we have set for the deficit this year and it will not be necessary to take measures that will further burden Greek citizens," Prime Minister George Papandreou told socialist party deputies in parliament.
The European Union's statistical office will revise upwards Greece's budget deficit and public debt figures for 2006-2009 this month, the European Commission said on Wednesday.