187 Posts in Economy

This came following a decision signed on Tuesday by Hellenic Deputy Finance Minister Apostolos Vesyropoulos. The deadline applies to individuals and legal entities. For those who owe taxes, the first instalment must be paid by July 31st.

The deal was signed by Belt Riviera SA - a company established by Temes SA and Hellinikon SMSA -  with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.   Apart from a 5-star hotel with 123 rooms and suites scheduled to open in the summer of 2027, the agreement includes plans for 17 luxury branded residences on the so-called Athens riviera near the Agios Kosmas marina, overlooking the Saronic Gulf. Commenting, Lamda Development CEO Odisseas Athanasiou noted that, "this new high-standard hotel complex will become another aesthetically superior landmark and serve as an additional international point of reference for this emblematic investment of The Ellinikon." Mandarin Oriental Athens will be the Group’s second property to launch in Greece, following its Costa Navarino investment.

The market sees the election result as the best possible scenario, an outcome that reduces political risk, paving the way for an independent government in the next election and for the recovery of investment grade in the coming months. At 13:00 the General Share Price Index stood at 1,212.82 points, marking a jump of 7.11%. Turnover was at 186.73 million euros. The large-cap index was up 8.22%, while the mid-cap index was up 3.62%.

Incumbent Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' strong relationship with the European Union and commitment to reforms should reassure investors if he is successful. An economy in a strong shape means a win for the opposition leftist Syriza Party might not unnerve markets as it did when it won in 2015. "It's (Greece) gone from being on the brink of being kicked out of the euro zone in 2015 to a situation where nobody is seriously worried in the near term," said Capital Economics' chief Europe economist Andrew Kenningham. Here are 5 key questions for markets. 1/ What is the biggest issue for voters? The cost of living crisis, with inflation eroding consumers' purchasing power. Inflation rose to as high as 12.1% in September and has since slowed to 4.5% on an annual basis, as energy prices fall. Average annual wages are still around 25% below their peak from 2009, OECD data shows. "You've seen a huge compression of salaries over the last 10 years and people have really felt the pinch," said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president at financial advisory firm Teneo.   2/ What does the election mean for Greece's return to investment grade? With three of four of its credit ratings just one notch below investment grade, the election may be the final hurdle before Greece regains the status it lost over a decade ago. S&P Global has said it could upgrade Greece's BB+ rating within the next year if a new government maintains fiscal discipline and the pace of reforms which unlock EU recovery funds. Goldman Sachs says a delivery on Mitsotakis' plan to roughly triple its spending of EU funds this year could be the "final step" to an upgrade. Greece's long-term borrowing costs, at around 4%, are already below Italy's and an investment-grade rating would likely drive them lower. IT10GR10=RR But much of the good news for Greece's rating may already be priced in, BlueBay Asset Management portfolio manager Kaspar Hense said.   3/ Will investors ditch Greek assets if Mitsotakis loses? Unlikely. Investors view Mitsotakis as a steady hand, given his strong relationships with the United States and Brussels, but opinions of Syriza have changed greatly since the financial crisis. Greece also enjoys one of the best euro area growth rates. "Investors are looking for political stability first, and they will welcome the return to government of Mitsotakis," Teneo's Piccoli said, adding "he is clearly pro-market". A Syriza-led government could hurt sentiment but a repeat of 2015, when Syriza's win sent Greek stocks slumping 24% that year and Greek 10-year yields to 19%, is seen as unlikely. "Syriza has become much more mainstream after being in government so there is little probability we see another replay of the 2015 volatility," said Mazars Wealth Management chief economist George Lagarias.   4/ What does the election mean for Greek shares? A decisive win for either party could add to short-term outperformance. Greece's ATHEX index .ATG is up around 21% so far this year, Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX has rallied 10%. Its skew towards banks, boosted by rising interest rates, helps explain the Greek outperformance. Investors will watch government plans for the disposal of its stakes in Greek banks. The state-owned Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, founded during the debt crisis, says it will shed its bank stakes by end-2025. It owns roughly 40% of National Bank of Greece NBGr.AT, 27% of Piraeus BOPr.AT, 9% of Alpha Services and Holdings ACBr.AT, and 1.4% of Eurobank EURBr.AT. "The good news is that after the elections and return to investment grade ... there will be a lot more interest and better valuations (for banks)," said Al Alevizakos, managing director, research for AXIA Ventures Group.   5/ What about the Euro? A trigger for selling the euro in the past, the election is not a big deal for FX traders this time. Stronger cohesion, the EU recovery fund and an ECB emergency bond-buying tool have eased concerns about a euro zone breakup. "The whole 'peripheral pressures' issue has really gone on the back burner," said Adam Cole, head of FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets. The euro is one of the best performing G10 currencies this year, up over 1.5% to $1.087 EUR=EBS.

Ahead of an election on May 21st, a cost-of-living crisis that is eroding earnings is foremost in voters' minds. For Klaoudatou it means voting for anyone but the incumbent conservative New Democracy or the opposition leftist Syriza. "I'm going to vote for a small party, more to show that I am not happy with the bigger parties," she said, echoing opinion polls that suggest the outcome will be a hung parliament. 3 international bailouts saved Greece from toppling out of the Eurozone during a decade-long debt crisis that peaked in 2015. But austerity imposed in return for financial aid meant millions of Greeks saw their livelihoods hit as taxes soared and wages and pensions were recalibrated. It was a painful adjustment to get the country's finances back on track. Since its bailout programme ended in 2018, Greece has regained market access, wrestled down its record debt and growth is set to outpace the euro zone's average. For many, however, that turnaround is only on paper. Now aged 40 and a telephone company employee, Klaoudatou is earning the same money - 850 euros a month - she did as a 20- year-old supermarket worker in 2004. With a mortgage, two young children and spiralling food bills, she says can't afford the basics. "Εven during the crisis - and this is the joke - I didn't think so much before spending a single extra euro," Klaoudatou told Reuters. While millions across Europe are struggling with rising prices, especially for energy and food, the financial turmoil of the last decade has amplified the impact in Greece. "The past 10 years has been static for workers and pensioners. Any improvement in growth hasn't been passed on to them yet," said Vlassis Missos, fellow researcher for the Greek Centre of Planning and Economic Research. A GPO poll on May 6 showed the ruling conservative New Democracy was set to get 36.9% of the vote on May 21, compared with 30.4% for leftist Syriza, its main rival. However, smaller parties including the once-dominant Socialist PASOK, were also gaining ground. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has raised the minimum wage and pensions, and promised to do more if re-elected. His main rival, leftist Alexis Tsipras who governed over the 2015-2019 period, has also pledged to raise pensions and the minimum wage, and to index wages to inflation. Greece may formally be out of fiscal surveillance by the European Union, but its heavy debt burden continues to make lenders wary. That means any administration must undertake a perilous balancing act of placating an electorate worn down by austerity and now inflation with keeping markets happy. There is little wiggle room. "From a fiscal point of view, we're still a way from a primary (budget) surplus which is necessary for the long-term debt sustainability," Greek central banker Yannis Stournaras told media outlet Imerisia.gr on May 10. PAYCHECK BARELY GETS TO PAYCHECK One in two Greek households could barely get by on their monthly income last year. Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, says 36.4 percent of Greeks had overdue bills in 2021, the highest proportion in the 27-member bloc. The share of people whose housing costs represent more than 40 percent of their disposable income was also the biggest in the EU, at 32.4% of Greek households compared to an EU average of 10.4%. And in the past year, those bills have been getting higher as the European Central Bank raises interest rates at a record pace to rein in runaway inflation. Klaoudatou, who shares a small apartment in the Athens suburb of Alimos with her two children and her mother, has seen her mortgage rise to 450 euros a month, 100 euros more than a year ago. She shares expenses with her mother, who receives a monthly pension of around 850 euros. But still the family cannot make ends meet. Klaoudatou only uses her car when strictly necessary, and recently had to tell her 12-year-old he couldn't go out with his friends because she couldn't afford the food. "I felt bad. Really, really bad," she said. "I would never have done that before."

Stournaras, considered a dove on the ECB's 26-member Governing Council, told imerisia.gr that "as things stand at the moment, and if nothing changes dramatically, we can say that rate hikes will end in 2023." "Rates will remain where they are today or higher for some time until inflation comes very close to the 2% target," he added. Greece, the euro zone's most indebted nation, is heading to elections on May 21 and the ballot is not expected to produce an outright winner which may lead to a second vote, according to recent polls. Stournaras said that Greece was close to regaining an investment grade rating, which would signal that the country has returned to normality. He said that the new government which will take over after the elections should implement the appropriate fiscal policy. "From a fiscal point of view, we 're still away from a primary (budget) surplus, which is necessary for the long-term debt viability," he said.

At the meeting, Regional Governor Giorgos Patoulis presented the region's achievement in the years 2019-2023. Mitsotakis acknowledged Patoulis and his office's achievements, saying that "the Attica Region's vision is by and large identical to mine  personally for a Greece that is productive, social, green, digital, just and powerful."  The Premier added that Greece, like the Region of Attica, must move ahead into the future, not return to the past and he made special mention of the coastal development project at Hellinikon. "The next regional administration - that is, Giorgos Patoulis' - will have 1.6 billion Euros to manage from the Attica development plan, compared to the 1.1 billion Euros previously," the PM noted, a testament to the hard work by this government to claim more EU funding for our regions.

This is taking place on the occasion of the forthcoming publication of Charles H. Dallara’s book “Euroshock: How the Largest Debt Restructuring in History Helped Save Greece and Preserve the Eurozone” and Evangelos Venizelos’ book “Versions of War 2009-2022”, The event is being held at the prestigous King George Hotel in Syntagma, Athens, on Tuesday from 18.30. 

The proposal, which sets no numerical target for how much the debt should fall, is likely to disappoint the EU’s biggest country Germany, which wanted to set a 1% of GDP minimum annual debt reduction target for each of the EU’s 27 countries. The debt reduction would be the outcome of a four-year plan of reforms, investment and fiscal measures that would be agreed individually by the Commission and each government and target annual net expenditure as the key operational indicator. Governments could get more time to reduce their debt and deficit levels, for instance seven years, if they implement reforms that increase fiscal sustainability, boost growth or invest in areas that are EU priorities like the transition to a green and digital economy, social rights or in security and defense. The overall debt reduction goal over four years would replace the current rule under which governments must cut debt every year by one-twentieth of the excess above 60% of GDP – a requirement that is seen as far too ambitious for high-debt countries like Italy, Greece or Portugal. Under the Commission proposal, countries with public debt above the EU’s ceiling of 60% of GDP would be allowed to raise their annual net expenditure, which excludes one-offs, cyclical unemployment spending and debt servicing costs, by less than the medium-term output growth, to make sure debt falls. The government deficit, like in existing rules, will have to stay below 3% of GDP. If it is above that ceiling, it will have to be cut by 0.5% of GDP every year until it is below the limit.           “And no heel-dragging, no backloading: member states will not be allowed to push back fiscal adjustments to a later date. This also applies to carrying out required reforms and investments,” Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said. To make sure governments do not postpone cutting the deficit and debt to the end of the agreed period, especially if it is extended to seven years, they would be required to implement four-sevenths of the agreed adjustment by the end of the basic four-year period. The deficit reduction, just like the debt reduction, would have to be achieved over the four-year period and measures used to achieve it would have to ensure that the deficit stays below 3% for 10 years afterwards without any additional steps. The Commission’s proposal is the fourth revision of the EU fiscal rules, called the Stability and Growth Pact, since the creation of the euro currency. The rules are designed to underpin the value of the euro by limiting government borrowing. The new rules are to replace the existing ones, which have been suspended since 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenge of fighting climate change and the war in Ukraine, but which are to be reinstated from the start of 2024. The Commission proposal will now have to be discussed by EU governments and negotiated with the European Parliament with a view to an agreement later in 2023.

Greece will hold a general election on May 21st, weeks before the conservative government's term ends. But the vote is unlikely to produce a clear winner, setting the stage for protracted political manoeuvring and a runoff vote. Athens needs to continue with credible policies to shield its economy from risks which include the impact of the energy crisis and a protracted electoral period, Yiannis Stournaras told the central bank's annual shareholders' meeting. "The biggest risk for Greece's economic prospects in a period of successive crises and increased uncertainty, would be a loss of credibility on the economic policy implemented, which was so hard to regain, and a return to the bad practices of the past," Stournaras said. Greece emerged from international bailouts in 2018, nearly a decade after a debt crisis forced it to seek financial aid from its European peers and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for austerity to stay afloat. His latest growth projection upwardly revises an earlier central bank estimate for economic expansion of 1.5% this year from 5.9% 2022, reflecting Greece's fiscal progress. Stournaras said headline inflation would remain at high levels but was expected to ease to 4.4%, and he confirmed a government projection for a primary surplus of 0.7% this year. The country, he said, needs to be able to achieve sustainable primary surpluses around 2% of gross domestic product in the medium term, while maintaining fiscal credibility is pivotal for the aim of regaining investment grade and to keep reducing debt, the highest in the euro zone. "Since 2023 is a year of national elections, to maintain the climate of confidence in the prospects of the Greek economy, prudence and responsibility is required from political forces, that need to support the country's fiscal goals," he said.

According to Retsos, there was optimism that revenues from tourism could reach 18.2 billion euros in 2023, exceeding the record revenues in 2019, something that would start to become apparent over the course of the year. "Greece is capitalising on the very strong brand it has built during the pandemic," Retsos said, noting that it was the only Mediterranean country that opened its borders with complete success in 2020, showing that it could handle a serious crisis and becoming an example for other destinations to follow. The reputation for safety that Greece built at that time still follows the tourism sector at present, he said. A key decision taken at that time, he noted, was the decision to open the borders to Americans, making Athens Airport a hub for all of Europe. This led to a vote of confidence from Americans, who "have returned to Greece and will not leave for a long time," Retsos told ANA. Asked how Greece can retain its current position as the fifth most recognisable tourism brand worldwide, Retsos noted that tourism activity was cyclical and this must be done with good strategy and organisation, now that Greece was going through its peak phase. He said this would need improvements to infrastructure and waste management, with a number of issues that needed "immediate answers" on specific fronts. He also highlighted the importance of up-to-date promotional tools in order to stay ahead of the competition, where he praised the contribution of SETE's promotional company, Marketing Greece. On the employment problem that has arisen for the tourist industry, with tourist enterprises struggling to find staff, Retsos said this was a huge problem for tourism and other sectors of the economy, and that the shortage of trained staff could have a serious impact on tourism, which was a service industry. He blamed the phenomenon partly on the pandemic lockdown, which pushed workers into other areas of the economy, and also on an economic shift that occurred from 2020 onwards, when previously stagnant sectors of the economy recovered and attracted staff from the largely seasonal tourism sector. Other factors, such as poor working conditions, served to worsen the problem, he added, urging inspections sooner to help address the problem. Regarding pay, he pointed out that minimum pay in tourism was higher than the general minimum wage, while he said it was important to intensify efforts to provide young workers with training in tourism-related skills and also called for tourism to be permitted to import staff, as in agriculture.

These are as follows: Sunday April 9: 11:00 - 20:00 Holy Monday-Holy Thursday (April 10-13): 09:00 - 21:00 Good Friday: 13:00-21:00 Holy Saturday: 09:00-20:00 Stores will remain closed on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.