Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-11-09

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 09/11/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• 1998 budget set for tabling in Parliament on Wednesday
• Greece-Serbia examining closer tourism cooperation
• Air space violations on Navy patrons' feast day
• Street riot outside Polytechnic
• Blood transfusion AIDS victim compensation
• Equities stabilise on Athens bourse after three-day drop
• Eurobond issue Monday to fend off drachma pressure
• Weather
• Foreign Exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

The Cabinet will convene on Wednesday to rubber-stamp the 1998 general state budget before it is submitted in parliament that same evening.

The proposed budget was approved on Friday by the Inner Cabinet at a three- hour meeting chaired by Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

National Economy and Finance Minister Yannos Papantoniou told reporters after the meeting that the 1998 budget adhered to the goals of Greece's convergence programme with the rest of the European Unin economies.

He also said it was an "austere but fair" budget, adding his optimism that the "ambitious" convergence targets to drastically reduce the deficit and inflation next year would be attained.

Papantoniou said the budget was geared towards development, and predicted the growth rate for next year could reach 3.7 percent, compared to 3.5 percent this year, and that the public investments programme would make a strong contribution in that direction.

The Minister warned that the recent turmoil on the Greek and international financial markets could continue into the coming year, "up to the establishment of the EURO", adding that this required Greece "to have a strong economy".

Greece-Serbia examining closer tourism cooperation

A protocol providing for closer cooperation between Greece and Serbia in the sector of tourism is being prepared by both sides, according to a statement by Serbian Tourism Organisation president Ljubisa Miloyevic in Thessaloniki.

Speaking at a press conference at the 13th Philoxenia tourism fair, Ms. Milojevic said the Greek National Tourist Organisation (EOT) and its Serb counterpart were discussing the simplification of visa requirements for Serbs visiting Greece as well as various joint programmes such as exchange programmes for tourism employees and joint marketing programmes in third countries.

EOT president Yannis Stefanidis confirmed the organisation's desire to sign a tourism protocol with Serbia, although he said priority would be given to signing a cooperation protocol with the state tourism board of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

With regard to visas, the Serb official proposed the introduction of a tourist pass for visitors from Yugoslavia visiting Greece in groups, noting that the current visa application procedures were time-consuming.

According to figures released at the press conference, the number of Greek visitors to Belgrade doubled in the first nine months of this year to 4,350, although the average stay was only two days, compared to nine days for the whole of 1996 when the total number of Greek visitors was 2,080.

The Serb Tourism Organisation is also preparing special package tours for Greek tourists and services for business travellers. Investments are also a priority, it was noted, with the privatisation of tourism enterprises. The Greek travel agency Travel Way has already bought 51% of Yugo Tours, it was announced.

Air space violations on Navy patrons' feast day

Turkish air force F-16s and F-4 once again infringed the Athens FIR and violated Greek air space on Saturday, the feast day of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, patron saints of the Greek air force.

The incidents took place in the region between the islands of Chios and Lesvos, near the island of Limnos. All the Turkish aircraft were intercepted by Greek Mirage-2000 and F-16 fighter planes.

Street riot outside Polytechnic

About 50 masked youths gathered outside the Athens Polytechnic in the early hours of Saturday morning threw Molotov cocktails at four nearby shops and two oncoming cars, causing widespread damage but no injuries.

The self-styled anarchists blocked Patission Avenue outside the Polytechnic where an event was being held to commemorate the Russian Revolution. The group dispersed later and the fires extinguished by the fire brigade.

Blood transfusion AIDS victim compensation

A Rhodes court has awarded compensation of 100 million drachmas to the family of an 11-year-old AIDS victim who died in 1992, for negligence in the screening of blood supplies in the '80s which resulted in the young girl's contraction of the deadly virus.

Constantina, a sufferer of thalassaemia who needed frequent blood transfusions, was diagnosed in 1986 as having contracted AIDS. The Appeals Court of Rhodes heard that the local hospital which administered the tranfusions had failed to immediately apply Health Ministry directives for the compulsory AIDS screening of all blood supplies, in effect since September of 1985. As a result, patients in the Rhodes hospital received, until the end of that year, blood that had not been tested for AIDS, which the court accepted as resulting in Constantina's contracting the disease.

In the court's decision it is stated that Constantina's family were subsequently isolated in the island community "in a way reminiscent of the treatment towards lepers in the middle ages or the people with tuberculosis before the war" and the girl was barred from attending school until the Ministry of Education intervened.

The Ministry of Health has appealed the ruling and the case will now be heard by the Council of State, the highest court in the country.

Equities stabilise on Athens bourse after three-day drop

Greek equities stabilised during the last trading session of the week on the Athens Stock Exchange with the market taking a breath after a three-day sharp drop in prices. The general index closed 0.06 percent lower at 1, 512.77 points, to a net gain of 1.63 percent in the week. The parallel market index for small cap companies jumped 2.36 percent. Trading was heavy with turnover at 21.2 billion drachmas. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 130 to 86 with another 17 issues unchanged.

Eurobond issue Monday to fend off drachma pressure

A new series of one- and three- year Eurobonds -- ECU and EURO indexed bonds -- with a fixed interest will be issued on Monday, the Finance Ministry announced. It also said that it would hold an auction of one-year interest bearing treasury bills totalling 100 billion drachma.

The move, in coordination with the Bank of Greece, is seen as a signal to markets that the government stands unwavering on its foreign exchange policy.

The decision to float a new Eurobond issue has substantially improved sentiment on the domestic money market, leading to a firmer drachma and lower interbank rates.

Bankers said the Eurobond issue was a strategic move by the government to improve the climate in the domestic markets and also to reiterate its determination to carry on with its hard-drachma policy.

The Eurobonds will carry interest rates of 4.6 percent and 5.2 percent for one and three years respectively, rates lower than the drachma-denominated issues.

In the domestic foreign exchange market, the drachma was substantially higher against the US dollar at Friday's close, although it lost ground against the ECU and the DMark.

The Bank of Greece reported inflows of 80 million ECU and 40 million DMark, while interbank rates fell below 11 percent but remained volatile.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(L.G.)

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