Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-07-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] Parliamentary committee begins review of new national broadcaster draft law

[02] Venizelos to represent Greece in UN general assembly opening September 24

[03] IOBE revises estimate for 2013 recession upwards, to 5.0 pct

[01] Parliamentary committee begins review of new national broadcaster draft law

The draft law will follow the normal timeline. The committee members decided by majority vote that the second reading of the bill will be completed by Thursday and also approved the agencies invited to give an opinion on it.

Representatives from the former national broadcaster ERT's union POSPERT, the Union of Athens Newspapers, and the Hellenic Federation of Journalists, and professor Nikos Alivizatos - one of the authors of the bill - are among those who have been invited to give their opinion to the committee starting at 12 noon on Tuesday.

[02] Venizelos to represent Greece in UN general assembly opening September 24

Venizelos will have a series of meetings with the heads of foreign delegations and will deliver an address to the 68th general assembly.

Permanent representative of Greece to the UN ambassador Michael Spinellis briefed Greek community media journalists and UN-accredited correspondents on Cyprus and Fyrom that are being discussed within the framework of the global organisation and on issues ahead of the Greek presidency in the European Union in the first six months of 2014.

The permanent Greek delegation of Greece to the UN is expected to develop a series of initiatives regarding the agenda of the Greek presidency while a number of cultural events will be also organised.

Part of the opening events for the general assembly will include three meetings: on "Disability and growth" (September 23), on "Nuclear disarmament" (September 26) and on "Global migration an development" (October 3-4).

[03] IOBE revises estimate for 2013 recession upwards, to 5.0 pct

In its quarterly report, IOBE said that its estimate was slightly worse compared with recent estimates made by the European Union and the IMF (-4.2 pct) and the OECD (-4.8 pct).

The report noted that a deep recession in the next quarters of the year will further raise the unemployment rate, although at a slower rate compared with the first quarter of 2013. Unemployment is expected to show signs of improvement during the summer months, helped by increased seasonal employment in the tourism sector.

On the other hand, employment is expected to suffer later in the year with workers' dismissals in the public sector as envisaged in a medium-term framework of fiscal strategy 2013-2016. Unemployment is projected to rise to 27.8 pct of the workforce this year, higher than earlier estimates made by IOBE.

Very low levels of demand will further pressure prices, although higher tourist arrivals are expected to slow a fall in prices during the summer months. A freeze in electricity rates will also help to bring the inflation rate to -0.4 pct this year.

IOBE noted that it necessary for the government to undertake specific actions and initiatives aimed at restarting investment activity in the country.

IOBE said that professor Nikolaos Vettas will take over as managing director of the Institute from September 2013. Vettas is a professor in the Athens Economics University.

(Photo shows Nikolaos Vettas, assuming duties as IOBE managing director in September, addressing Tuesday's event.)

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