Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] ESM receives loan repayment of 2.0 bln euros from Greece

[02] Greece is on the right track, as the EU response to IMF demands indicates, Cyprus President tells ANA

[03] Olive oil competition in London

[04] KEPE sees clear signs of improving conditions in Greek economy

[01] ESM receives loan repayment of 2.0 bln euros from Greece

"The prompt payment shows Greece is a reliable contract partner. It is a sign that the restructuring of the Greek banking sector is progressing well. We will continue to work together with Greece during the remainder of the programme," said Klaus Regling, ESM Managing Director.

As part of the third assistance programme for Greece, the ESM disbursed 5.4 billion euros to recapitalise Greek banks in 2015. Greece used the funds to recapitalise National Bank of Greece (NBG) and Piraeus Bank. One condition of the approval for recapitalising NBG was the sale of its subsidiary Finansbank, and to use the proceeds to repay part of the recapitalisation. Once NBG had done so, the ESM was entitled to request repayment of those proceeds from Greece, resulting in the early repayment of part of the ESM loans.

The repayment does not impact the ongoing implementation of the short-term debt measures for Greece.

[02] Greece is on the right track, as the EU response to IMF demands indicates, Cyprus President tells ANA

According to Cyprus' president, this was reflected "in the reaction of [Greece's EU] partners to the demands of the IMF," while he expressed hope that there will be a good outcome in the discussion on Greece.

Regarding the possibility of a visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Cyprus, Anastasiades said that there were no developments in the Cyprus issue at present to justify a visit. With the problems that Greece was currently facing in the Eurogroup, he added, the prime minister's time would be better spent on something useful.

He added that there was daily contact with Tsipras on the Cyprus issue and that cooperation between them was "beyond excellent".

[03] Olive oil competition in London

The organizers are expected to bring together the best virgin olive oils in the world and to present awards for the quality of olive oil, olive oil's health ingredients and packaging.

The London IOOC 2017, London International Olive oil Competitions are:

â€' Quality award of Extra Virgin Olive Oil,

â€' Health Claim award of Extra Virgin Olive Oil,

â€' Packaging award of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The organizers aim to motivate olive growers to improve the quality of their products, to promote extra-virgin olive oil, improving the knowledge of people in the business, promoting olive oil consumption in local markets and highlighting the health ingredients of the product.

The competition will be held in London for the first time.

[04] KEPE sees clear signs of improving conditions in Greek economy

KEPE said that many of the reforms which have been implemented by Greece in recent years have significantly facilitated Greek business activity, particularly in terms of starting a business and conducting cross-border trade. However, the country ranks at the bottom among OECD high-income countries based on the total convenience of doing business index calculated by the World Bank. For this poor performance largely responsible are the complex and lengthy procedures in the transfer of property and the implementation of contracts through courts.

"All in all, we conclude that, despite the significant progress made by Greece in facilitating business, it should continue to implement structural reforms, as there seems to be considerable room for improvement especially in property registration and contract implementation through courts. The simplification of procedures, reducing bureaucracy, time and cost of completing the required actions, as appropriate, are considered essential in order to create a "friendly" regulatory environment that encourages investment and promotes innovative business initiatives in the country," KEPE said.

Performance in individual sectors of doing business

Examination of individual indicators shows in what specific areas of doing business the regulatory environment hampers Greek business.

Compared with the average level of OECD countries, the regulatory-legal framework in Greece seems to raise major obstacles for SMEs, particularly with regard to the registration of real estate and implementation of contracts through courts.

It is characteristic that in Greece a total of 10 procedures for the transfer of real estate are required, while in OECD countries an average of only 5 procedures are required.

Also, the average trial time of a trade dispute to an Athens court is 1,580 days, when the corresponding time in OECD is only 575 days.

In contrast, the regulatory framework in Greece appears to be quite favorable to cross-border trade, especially imports of products with the customs clearance costs and controls on a typical case of imported goods at zero, against 115 US dollars in the OECD.

In property registration areas and conventions Greece has the worst performance in comparison with other countries, occupying the 141st and 133rd place respectively.

Greece presented a relatively good performance in the business start index, ranking 56th in the world.

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