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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-07-29

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

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] IMF's Lagarde: debt restructuring a must for Greek programme 'to fly'
  • [02] Minister announces changes to property tax, more inspections
  • [03] Greece remains one of the top destinations for tourism, Kountoura says

  • [01] IMF's Lagarde: debt restructuring a must for Greek programme 'to fly'

    ANA-MPA -- In an online press conference on Wednesday, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said a restructuring of Greece's public debt was one of four key elements needed in order for the programme to work. "For any programme to fly, significant debt restructuring should take place," she said. Lagarde presented four key 'legs' that a Greek programme must have to succeed. She said these included realistic fiscal targets, structural measures to open up the Greek economy and release its growth potential, sufficient financing to make the programme workable and last, a restructuring of the country's debt. The IMF chief also insisted that the Greek government must have ownership of the new programme. When asked whether the Greek government will be able to implement a programme when it has publicly said it does not believe in, Lagarde said the IMF would look at "deeds, not creeds" and pointed out that what matters in the end are actions, not words.

    [02] Minister announces changes to property tax, more inspections

    ANA-MPA -- Greece's Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis on Wednesday announced plans to revise a special property tax with the aim of lightening the burden for low incomes and small property holders, without changing a 2.65 billion euros revenue target. He also announced a package of measures to intensify controls in the market and in tourist regions of the country. Alexiadis said that the ministry was examining measures exploiting credit cards for direct VAT payments and announced that a plan for an online connection of cash machines with the ministry's IT authority would begin from tourist islands. He dismissed the possibility of further extending a deadline for income tax statements. The Greek minister said the ministry has already made plans to change a special property tax, adding: "We cannot reduce the target of 2.5 billion euros in tax revenue", while he stressed that the ministry was currently discussing a timetable for property tax payment with the country's creditors. Alexiadis said that interventions and corrections must be made in the taxation of farmers, but cautiously in order to avoid impacting primary production in the country. He said that the issue was under discussion with the country's creditors. He stressed that the ministry was examining plans to facilitate enterprises to pay their taxes by the end of the year, such as expanding a measure for offsetting taxes. He also announced a package of measures aimed at intensifying tax controls in the market and particularly in tourist regions. He added that inspections carried out over the weekend on a total of 1,600 enterprises found that tax evasion rates were around 23 pct.

    [03] Greece remains one of the top destinations for tourism, Kountoura says

    ANA-MPA -- In two interviews with Al Jazeera, Alternate Minister for Tourism Eleni Kountoura thanked the tourists that had chosen to take their holidays in Greece and noted that tourist traffic was higher than last year. In interviews with Al Jazeera International, the network's channel in English and the Al Jazeera Media Network in Arabic, Kountoura noted that tourism is still high in the list of preferred destinations for tourism and underlined Greece's interest in the tourist market from the Middle East. In the last month, she added, she had visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and closed agreements designed to boost Greek tourism, such as the addition of direct flights to Greece from the end of June. Noting that Greece was a safe and ideal destination for holidays, Kountoura also announced the launch of an internet campaign to attract last-minute tourists throughout the world and said that her ministry is working round the clock to immediately solve any problems that may arise.
    Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
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