Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 98-12-31

Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] ASE projected among Europe's main markets in `99

[02] Ericsson cuts back stake in Intracom to 4%

[03] Gov't begins discussion on tax system reform

[04] Greek equities break 2,700 level

[05] National Bank: GDP at 3.2% in '98, expected at 3.4% in '99

[06] OTEnet drops internet rates

[07] Athens: Cancellation of S-300s won't affect joint defence doctrine

[08] Tsohatzopoulos in Albania for contacts

[09] OAED reports some 75,000 aliens in N. Greece have applied for work permits

[10] PM sends draft on reformulating party manifesto

[11] Commercial Bank expands towards 'euro-zone'

[12] Athens Foreign Exchange

[01] ASE projected among Europe's main markets in `99

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

Kouniakis said that during the first months of 1999 the Greek stock market will be officially upgraded from an emerging to a developed market, a view held by a large number of foreign investors.

ASE's chairman said that implementation of legislation on new listing requirements will give new impetus to the market. He expects a 50 percent increase in the number of listed companies in the next two years from 240 to 350, a prospect likely to boost the Greek market's depth and reduce investment risks.

Kouniakis also announced the operation of a derivatives market in the first half of 1999 along with a programme of electronic securitization. He said that from April 1, all share closing prices will be valued in euros.

Kouniakis also announced measures to strengthen the market's regulatory authority.

ASE's chairman said the Greek market was not considering extending the daily hours of trading in order to harmonise its operation with other major European markets, before completion of an electronic securitization project.

Kouniakis said that a plan to launch an Emerging Capital Markets market in Thessaloniki, aimed to attract rapidly growing companies from the Balkans and other east European countries, proceeded slowly because of economic problems facing most Balkan states.

He said, however, that a technical part of the plan was near completion and that the market could begin operation by late February.

Athens News Agency

[02] Ericsson cuts back stake in Intracom to 4%

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

The transaction took place in yesterday's session of the Athens Stock Exchange.

Athens News Agency

[03] Gov't begins discussion on tax system reform

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

The government has already pledged to lower indirect taxes in 1999 and to begin reforming the tax system in the year 2000.

National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou yesterday chaired a meeting with other economic cabinet ministers and discussed the country's fiscal prospects in the next few years.

The meeting also discussed procedures in the negotiations over the EU's Third Community Support Framework, included in the Agenda 2000 due to be completed under the German EU presidency in March 1999.

Athens News Agency

[04] Greek equities break 2,700 level

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

The index ended 1.65 percent up to 2,709.18 points in heavy turnover of 107 billion drachmas. Volume was 21,294,000 shares.

Sector indices scored gains. Industrials jumped 3.07 percent up, Banks rose 1.08 percent, Leasing fell 0.23 percent, Insurance eased 0.28 percent, Investment was 0.81 percent up, Construction increased 1.38 percent, Miscellaneous rose 0.57 percent and Holding dropped 1.70 percent.

The parallel market index for small cap companies ended 0.80 percent higher while the FTSE/ASE 20 index rose 1.26 percent up to 1,701.96.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 140 to 110 with another 20 issues unchanged.

Intracom, Aspis Investment, Tegopoulos Publications and Metrolife were the most heavily traded stocks.

Tegopoulos ended 34.29 percent up on the first day of trading in the market. Dimitriadis, Vis, Druckfarben, Korinth Spin Mills, Metka, Desmos and Etma also scored big percentage gains.

Aspis Bank, Klaoudatos, Lambropoulos, Viosol, Dorian Bank, Galis, Sato, Sportsman and Halyps Cement suffered heavy losses.

National Bank of Greece ended at 61,600 drachmas, Ergobank at 31,695, Alpha Credit Bank at 29,060, Ionian Bank at 14,900, Hellenic Telecoms at 7,400, Delta Dairy at 3,925, Intracom at 12,900, Titan Cement at 20,680, Hellenic Petroleum at 2,275 and Minoan Lines at 6,350.

Athens News Agency

[05] National Bank: GDP at 3.2% in '98, expected at 3.4% in '99

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

The bank's English-language bulletin noted that inflation was expected to drop to under 2 per cent by the end of 1999.

National Bank added that total share value at the Athens Stock Exchange grew by 80 per cent since the beginning of 1998, while the outlook for 1999 is also positive. The bank stated that privatisations of state-run utilities and enterprises are expected to continue.

Athens News Agency

[06] OTEnet drops internet rates

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

Specifically, PISN dial-up 'Dynamic PPP' customers will receive a 5 to 12 per cent reduction of fees, OTEnet said.

ISDN Dynamic PPP accounts will not be subject to a 5,000-drachma one-time connection fee and the monthly 25,000-drachma base fee will be reduced to 15,000 drachmas.

The announcement noted that the new OTE rates set to take effect on March 1 will lower rates for OTEnet internet users.

According to the OTEnet press release the new rates will be six drachmas per time unit, where the unit represents 1.5 minutes between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and six drachmas per six minutes between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.

The aforementioned rate decreases apply to both ISDN and PSIN telephone services.

Finally, dedicated line customers will be given a 25 per cent rate cut whether they use a 64 Kbit/s or a 128 Kbit/s modem connections.

Greece has among the highest internet prices, along with Germany, in the EU.

Athens News Agency

[07] Athens: Cancellation of S-300s won't affect joint defence doctrine

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides yesterday came under intense fire by opposition political parties in both countries over a decision by the latter, backed by the Greek PM, not to deploy the long-range anti-aircraft system on the divided island.

Speaking to Cyprus News Agency, Kranidiotis said Greece "secures and guarantees Cyprus' defence and is promoting the pursuits and the interests of Cypriot Hellenism".

"During the past few years, spectacular steps have been taken in the defence area, while the Cyprus problem has been successfully projected on a diplomatic level in the European arena," Kranidiotis maintained, adding that "the (joint defence) doctrine is not exhausted with the S-300s...the essence and the heart of the doctrine is Greece's commitment, which was reiterated by the Greek prime minister to the Cypriot president, that any aggressive act on the part of Turkey against Cyprus would constitute a 'casus belli' for Greece.

"...Our primary target should be the implementation of the two recent UN Security Council resolutions as well as the good use of the positive elements they contain...our second target should be the withdrawal of US- made armaments, which the Turkish-occupied forces on Cyprus have in violation of US law."

Kranidiotis said "Greece would exercise pressure for the withdrawal of the US-made armaments" from the island, while he added that "the third target is to promote Cyprus' accession course (to the European Union), which is the catalyst in developments for the Cyprus problem".

Karamanlis refers to 'fiasco' : Earlier, main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Costas Karamanlis called Nicosia and Athens' announced plans to install the missiles on Crete instead of Cyprus "a grave defeat" and a "fiasco".

"The consequences of incoherence, lack of credibility and concessions are very serious for the whole of Hellenism," Karamanlis said in a statement.

"All Greeks cannot be called on to pay each time for the serious mistakes of governments which prove themselves less than able to meet the challenge, " he charged.

Karamanlis said the government's handling of the issue illustrated the need for "a national strategy with the greatest possible consensus and participation of all the country's political forces."

"It is time for Mr. Simitis to realise that ad hoc and superficial handling must stop and that partisan politics has no place in national issues," the ND leader said, calling on the premier to accept a ND proposal to establish a council of national policy.

He also harshly criticised Simitis for the decision not to deploy the missiles on Cyprus, saying the prime minister had for three years officially supported a policy which, in the end, he effectively undermined.

Pangalos on Karamanlis' criticism : In response, Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said statements by Karamanlis over the S-300s' non-deployment were "attempts to obtain short-term partisan benefits."

"Because he (Karamanlis) believes that he can obtain short-term partisan benefits, he ignores the positive developments on the Cyprus problem, which are due to the coordinated and systematic actions of the Greek and Cypriot governments", Pangalos said, adding: "he ignores the commencement of talks between the EU and Cyprus, the unprecedented binding resolutions of the UN Security Council, the views of the European Union, of President Bill Clinton, of Prime Minister Tony Blair and of all the other politi cal leaders, which are a clear approval of President Clerides' proposals on the defusion of tension and a reduction of armaments on Cyprus, as well as a commitment for the promotion of specific measures in that direction.

"Furthermore, Mr. Karamanlis, blinded by partisan passion, fails to see that with his high tone and insults he is creating a problem" in the unity of Greece and Cyprus, he said. The Greek FM added that "under the circumstances, a possible meeting of the political party leaders' council would be nothing else but a forum for "populist and irresponsible talk by the New Democracy leader".

Other parties' reactions : Communist Party of Greece (KKE) deputy Orestis Kolozov cited what he called an "absolute bankruptcy of the joint defence doctrine", stressing that the government is applying a policy of "bowing to pressures by the US, NATO and the European Union."

"Developments related with the S-300 missiles prove that the policy of the 'joint defence doctrine' has gone absolutely bankrupt and that KKE's position was vindicated..." Kolozov said.

Additionally, he said it harmed the image of the Republic of Cyprus on the international level as an independent member-state of the UN and weakened its international standing.

The veteran KKE deputy said that it was further confirmed that the government is exercising a policy of "bowing to pressures by the Americans, NATO and the EU who, after questioning Greece's sovereign rights in the Aegean". Lastly, he said "continuous pressures by the US and the EU" are leading to the island's partitioning.

Coalition for the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) party leader Nikos Constantopoulos said Tuesday's decision to cancel the S-300 deployment on Cyprus caused "serious political damage and injury to Greece and Cyprus' reliability."

Mr. Constantopoulos called the procurement of the S-300s a "wrong initial choice," saying it was an off-shoot of an "equally dead-locked" joint defence doctrine, which he requested be abandoned.

The Synaspismos leader, commenting on the possibility for deployment on Crete, said that "since the Cypriot government decided on non-deployment of the missiles on Cyprus, their deployment anywhere else would have no political or military meaning," adding: "the most serious weapons that both Greece and Cyprus have on the Cyprus problem are international law, UN resolutions and the process for accession of Cyprus to the European Union."

Annan pleased : UNITED NATIONS (ANA - M. Georgiadou) - In a related development, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed the UN chief's "great pleasure" over Mr. Clerides' decision for non-deployment.

A press release noted that the secretary general "views this as a tangible, positive response to Security Council resolutions 1217 and 1218 of December 1998, and to the appeal (in his letter of 14 December addressed to the President of the Security Council) to both parties 'to avoid any actions which might increase tension, including by further expansion of military forces and armaments."

The statement added that Mr. Annan "reiterates his full commitment to the initiative which he took on 30 September to ask his Deputy (UN) Special Representative Dame Ann Hercus, to begin a process of on-island talks with both sides with a view to reducing tension and promoting progress towards a just and lasting settlement."

Russia calls for implementation of 'obligations' : MOSCOW (ANA - D. Konstantakopoulos) - Meanwhile, Russian foreign ministry spokesman spokesman Vladimir Rahmanin told the Itar-Tass news agency that "the Russian side is implementing the contract for delivery of the S-300s to Cyprus without deviations and it is important that the recipient of the missiles implements its own fundamental obligations," adding that "it appears to us that this is also the opinion of the Cypriot side."

Mr. Rahmanin said that whatever changes in the terms of the contract is an issue for agreement between the stipulating sides, namely, the Republic of Cyprus and the Rosvooruzheniye manufacturer, while the contract for the S- 300s has a purely commercial character.

A Russian television station referred to the possibility of the S-300s being deployed on Crete from where their radars, however, do not cover the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus, which had caused concern in Turkey.

Russian military experts, which the station invoked, believe that such a solution would be in Russian interests since Moscow desires entry into NATO's weapons systems market. However, the same experts doubt the possibility of the missiles' deployment on

Crete, stressing that Washington has expressed objections to Athens purchasing the missiles.

Turkey balks at Crete deployment : Finally, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem stressed that the S-300 missile deployment on eastern Crete will add to the existing "interconnected problems of the Aegean and will increase tension in the region."

The Turkish minster added that if the missiles are shipped to Crete "there will be a security problem for NATO (since) Russian officers will arrive on Crete."

As for the presence of Turkish occupying forces on one-third of Cyprus, Mr. Cem said that "since the climate of peace is not developed, it would be useless to decrease the military force."

Athens News Agency

[08] Tsohatzopoulos in Albania for contacts

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

His first call was to Gjirokaster where Greek consular staff and Greek military officials briefed the minister on work on a military hospital to be donated by the Greek government to the Albanian defence ministry.

The hospital is expected to cost more than 440 million drachmas while Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said the Hellenic Air Force was prepared to donate a further 120 million drachmas to a hospital already operating in the area.

A construction firm is expected to be assigned to the project by the end of 1999.

Referring to Greek-Albanian issues, Tsohatzopoulos expressed his satisfaction over the level of cooperation, calling it particularly successful.

On his part, Albanian Defence Minister Luan Haidaraga said that several bilateral programmes initiated over the past 14 months are an example of cooperation. He also expressed certainty that very good bilateral relations will continue and be upgraded in the future.

The minister is also expected to visit the Izberis military base near Tirana, where the Greek military mission of 205 men is stationed.

In Tirana later in the day, he will have meetings with his Albanian counterpart, Prime Minister Pandeli Majko and Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani.

Athens News Agency

[09] OAED reports some 75,000 aliens in N. Greece have applied for work permits

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

For the time being, all have acquired the "white card", a legal document allowing travel and residence on Greek soil.

Thousands of foreigners having acquired the white card do not appear to be in a hurry to achieve their complete legalisation since only 30,000 have submitted necessary supporting documents to date. The time limit for their submission normally ended today but an extension has been granted until the end of April.

According to OAED, the majority of aliens are located in regions having strong industrial and agricultural activity such as Thessaloniki, Pella, Imathia, Serres, Drama and Xanthi since 70 per cent of aliens' applications were submitted in these prefectures.

Athens News Agency

[10] PM sends draft on reformulating party manifesto

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

Simitis stressed the need for a restating of PASOK's September 3rd founding declaration and a restructuring of party strategy.

Simitis' text maintained the initial PASOK tenets, namely, national independence, popular sovereignty, social liberation (emacipation) and a democratic process, unchanged.

The premier's draft noted that at present the role of PASOK is not to be "a party of the priviliged, nor a party of clientele relationships or one of guilds..."

He stressed that the socialist parties of Europe have overcome a "tidal wave of conservativism and have now found a new language to their peoples".

Finally, he added that the "duty of socialists is to reinstate social cohesion and to ensure normal continuation of the economy's operation...(while at the same time) modern socialism aims to offer society the greater material result that the market is able to offer."

Athens News Agency

[11] Commercial Bank expands towards 'euro-zone'

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

The bank will provide depository, loaning, investment and insurance products in euro. It will also serve its customers in the transfer of capital in euro and will provide them with advice and information on new parities.

According to an announcement, as of Jan. 4 the Commercial Bank will implement the operational plan for the bank's transfer to the euro in light of Greece's hoped for participation as of Jan. 1, 2001.

In the first phase from Jan. 1, 1999 until Dec. 31, 2000 the bank will be treating the euro as a foreign currency as will all Greek banks. In the second phase from Jan. 1, 2001 until Dec. 31, 2001 the new accounts and new banking activities will be expressed in euro and only their summary data will be depicted in drachmas, unless the party involved desires otherwise. In the third phase from Jan. 1, 2002 until June 30, 2002, when the national currencies will be withdrawn, the withdrawal of the drachma presentation from the bank's software and informatics systems and printed matter will have been completed.

In a similar development, the National Bank of Greece will be providing new products in euro on the occasion of 11 EU member-states adopting the euro as a common currency as of January 4, 1999.

The first product is the "Ethnokatathesi" account in euro. As of Jan. 4, 1999 all depositors so wishing will be able to open accounts of all kinds in euro and for which monetary regulations in force at present will apply. Existing accounts in ECU will be converted automatically into euro and at no cost with a 1:1 rate as of January 4, 1999. Interest rates as well as conversion prices will be determined on the basis of the interest rates and parities of currencies participating in the euro as of Jan. 4, 1999.

The Ethnothaneio loan in euro covers working capital loans in foreign currencies which will be governed until December 31, 1998 by the present status of granting loans in foreign currencies and more specifically in ECU. The currency of these loans will be converted into euro as of Jan. 4, 1999, while interest rates and conversion prices will be determined on the basis of the interest rates and parities of the currencies participating in the euro as of Jan. 4, 1999.

The Ethnostegi loan in euro is destined to cover needs concerning the purchase, building, completion, extension, maintenance or improvement of buildings of all kinds which are destined to become homes or working space for one's own use or exploitation and the purchase of building sites.

Athens News Agency

[12] Athens Foreign Exchange

Athens 31/12/1998 (ANA)

Parities in Drachmas

Banknotes            Buying  Selling
US Dollar            278.980 285.448
Can.Dollar           179.413 183.573
Australian Dlr       170.922 174.885
Pound Sterling       467.232 478.065
Irish Punt           416.402 426.056
Pound Cyprus         561.115 574.125
Pound Malta          691.768 720.592
Turkish pound (100)    0.073   0.076
French franc          49.864  51.020
Swiss franc          204.193 208.928
Belgian franc          8.107   8.295
German Mark          167.152 171.027
Finnish Mark          55.018  56.294
Dutch Guilder        148.373 151.814
Danish Kr.            43.916  44.934
Swedish Kr.           34.684  35.488
Norwegian Kr.         36.942  37.799
Austrian Sh.          23.778  24.330
Italian lira (100)    16.901  17.293
Yen (100)            241.800 247.406
Spanish Peseta         1.965   2.011
Port. Escudo           1.629   1.667

Foreign Exchange     Buying  Selling
New York             278.980 285.448
Montreal             179.413 183.573
Sydney               170.922 174.885
London               467.232 478.065
Dublin               416.402 426.056
Nicosia              561.115 574.125
Paris                 49.864  51.020
Zurich               204.193 208.928
Brussels               8.107   8.295
Frankfurt            167.152 171.027
Helsinki              55.018  56.294
Amsterdam            148.373 151.814
Copenhagen            43.916  44.934
Stockholm             34.684  35.488
Oslo                  36.942  37.799
Vienna                23.778  24.330
Milan                 16.901  17.293
Tokyo                241.800 247.406
Madrid                 1.965   2.011
Lisbon                 1.629   1.667

Athens News Agency

Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article