Economic growth

Bank stocks staged a full recovery on Thursday to take the benchmark higher for the first time this month, in line with the rise recorded in international markets. The credit sector closed near the day's high, although turnover was lower than in previous days.

Mali expects that this will be realized by the end of the year.
"We are negotiating intensively and I think we will be admitted to Euroclear in the next couple of weeks, i.e. by the end of the year, which will further increase the demand for our securities", Mali told reporters.

The Greek stock market appeared unaffected on Monday by the growth momentum observed by its international peers, and recorded a small decline on fairly low turnover. The likely reason was the decision by DBRS Morningstar last Friday not to upgrade Greece's rating, opting instead to upgrade only the country's outlook to "positive."

The benchmark index of the Greek stock market posted a weekly advance at the end of Friday's session, buoyed by Standard & Poor's credit rating upgrade for Greece and hopes that DBRS will follow suit. That enthusiasm appeared to run out of steam on Friday though, as trade slumped and the main index ended marginally lower on the day.

Technologic innovations should be adapted to the production to raise productivity, the Turkish industry and technology minister said on Oct. 31.

The Bank of Greece estimates that the impact of the investment incentives bill currently being debated in Parliament will amount to a 5-percentage point increase in gross domestic product, a 3.6-percentage point rise in employment, along with a reduction in undeclared labor, while investments will increase by 4.9 percentage points over the next decade.

The Greek stock market benchmark edged marginally higher again on Thursday, but the increase in turnover did not translate into a significant advance for blue chips, as their index ended up in the red. Gains for small-caps, on the other hand, led to winners surpassing the losers at the end of the session.

The World Bank has revised upwards its economic growth forecast for the Turkish economy for 2019, citing improvement in domestic demand.

The government is planning major changes in the way that property rates used for tax purposes (known as objective values) are determined, with adjustments in the age and commerciality factors as well as the addition of 7,000 more areas into the system. The aim is to rationalize the objective value system so that objective values match the going rates.

Efforts to cultivate optimism are welcome, given the fact that positive public sentiment is a required condition for economic growth. That said, Greek government officials should be reserved in their forecasts.