Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 06-03-16

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] RALLIS' FUNERAL TODAY

[02] THE REGION OF CENTRAL MACEDONIA RECEIVES FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

[03] PAPOULIAS-ALOGOSKOUFIS MEETING

[04] THE SITUATION IN EVROS EASES OFF

[05] GREECE'S INFLATION IN FEBRUARY

[01] RALLIS' FUNERAL TODAY

Former Prime Minister Georgios Rallis' funeral will be held this afternoon in Athens with honors reserved for prime ministers in office.

His funeral will be held at public expense in recognition of the outstanding services he offered to the people, the country and the nation.

The flags in public buildings will fly at half mast, according to a joint ministerial decision.

Georgios Rallis, who had served as prime minister and New Democracy President in 1980-81 and had resigned from his parliament seat in 1993, died yesterday at the age of 88 from heart failure.

The state and political leadership extended condolences for the death of the former prime minister.

[02] THE REGION OF CENTRAL MACEDONIA RECEIVES FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT MAGAZINE AWARD

The Region of Central Macedonia was recognized as the Southern European Region of the Future for the period 2006-2007 by Foreign Direct Investment magazine, member of the Financial Times group, according to a statement by the Hellenic Center for Investment (ELKE).

A total of 28 criteria were taken under consideration divided into seven wider categories such as the momentum of the economy, human resources, the education level of manpower, the strategy for the promotion of direct foreign investments, telecommunications and transportation infrastructure, access to new technologies, quality of life in the city for foreign personnel etc.

Region of Central Macedonia General Secretary Giorgos Tsiortas received the prize in a special event held in Cannes and outlined the region's investment prospects.

[03] PAPOULIAS-ALOGOSKOUFIS MEETING

Minister of Economy and Finance Giorgos Alogoskoufis briefed Hellenic Republic President Karolos Papoulias on developments concerning the economy in the meeting they had today at the Presidential Mansion.

After the meeting, Mr. Alogoskoufis stated that he briefed the President on the latest developments in the economy and particularly on the approval of the stability and development program by the European Commission and the overall prospects for the economy in general.

Mr. Alogoskoufis stated that the Greek economy avoided recession in 2005 after the 2004 Olympic Games thanks to the sound economic policy followed by the government and mentioned to Mr. Papoulias that growth rate last year was 3.7%, unemployment in 2005 was under 10%, while on the course of the deficit he pointed out that it dropped considerably and the goal for 2006 is to drop under 3% of the GDP.

He pointed out that the prospects for the Greek economy are great both in Greece and the wider region and underlined that the goal is for the current budget to meet its main goal, namely, to bring deficit under 3% of the GDP pointing out that Greece did not enter the EMU in the right time and well-prepared.

Referring to yesterday's strike mobilizations, Mr. Alogoskoufis stated that he received a worker delegation and pointed out to them that the government does everything necessary within the ability of the Greek economy to improve the economic situation.

[04] THE SITUATION IN EVROS EASES OFF

The situation in the Evros River region, northeast Greece, shows signs of easing off given the fact that the water level of rivers Evros, Ardas and Erythropotamos, even though still over the alert mark, has stopped rising.

The top priority, namely, the safety of local population, has been met through the coordinated action displayed on behalf of the state mechanism.

One more village was evacuated for precautionary reasons.

[05] GREECE'S INFLATION IN FEBRUARY

Inflation in Greece rose from 3% in January to 3.1% in February, according to European statistics agency, Eurostat, figures made public in Brussels today.

Inflation in the Euro-zone dropped from 2.4% in January to 2.3% in February while a year ago it was 2.1%. Inflation in the 25 remained unchanged at 2.2% while a year ago it was 2.1%.

In December, the lowest inflation rates were recorded in Poland (0.9%), Sweden (1.1%), Holland (1.4%) and Austria (1.5%), while the highest were in Latvia (7%), Estonia (4.5%), Slovakia (4.3%) and Spain (4.1%).

Compared to December, inflation rose in February in five member states, dropped in ten and remained unchanged in seven. There are no figures available on Ireland, Finland and Great Britain.

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