Recovery Fund

Breaking the indiscriminate cycle of spraying fields with pesticides is the objective of a major 28-month research program involving the Agricultural University of Athens, the Hellenic Mediterranean University, the Hellenic Agricultural Organization, the Benaki Phytopathological Institute, the Aristotle University, the Democritus University of Thrace and the Foundation for Research & Techno

There is strong dissatisfaction in the Finance Ministry about the speed with which IT companies - even multinational giants - are upgrading their software, so that it will be possible by February 29 to interface 400,000 cash registers with an equal number of POS.

According to ministry officials, there are suspicions that some companies are deliberately delaying the interconnection.

The Culture Ministry has completed its acquisition from the National Bank of an iconic cultural venue at a former industrial complex on Pireos Street near central Athens, in a 12.6-million-euro deal bankrolled through the Recovery Fund. 

The ministry has hailed the initiative as a "vital" part of plans to gentrify the capital's Elainos district and "elevate it into a cultural hub." 

The government will soon announce new Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) actions totaling over 1 billion euros, as it attempts to accelerate the absorption of the fund's resources, from which €6.9 billion are expected to be collected this year.

The government is facing the challenge of absorbing more than 55 billion euros for the benefit of the economy in the next four to six years from the National Strategic Reference Framework (known as ESPA) and the Recovery Fund, and the first obstacles have already emerged.

"Combatting tax evasion is our flag," National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Monday.

Speaking in Parliament, Hatzidakis underlined that the government will do everything in its power to complete a project of connecting cash machines with card terminals (POS) by the first few months of 2024.

Moody's anticipates a credit rating upgrade for Greece in a report of its investment service, and although it still places the country three notches below investment grade, this positive reading by the strictest of the rating agencies has its value.

The next rating decisions are by DBRS on September 8, Moody's on September 15, S&P on October 20 and Fitch on December 1.

The Hellenic Space Center (HSC) signed a deal on Thursday with local firm TotalView that will give state agencies access to high-quality satellite images - superior to the EU's Copernicus program - that they can use to track wildfires and gauge their aftermath, capture environmental violations, help map property lines, assess farmers' compensation claims and much more. 

Restoring the long-neglected National Theater of Rhodes is one of the top priorities in the capital of the southeastern Aegean island. The agreement for the project was signed recently by the South Aegean Regional Authority and the Municipality of Rhodes, with construction set to begin soon.

Τhe Greek economy will grow at a slower pace this year compared with 2022, as a result of a slowdown in the global economy in an environment of high inflation, tighter fiscal and monetary policy and uncertainty, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) said in its quarterly economic outlook report released on Wednesday.