Economy

The benchmark of the Greek stock market continued its course toward the 1,000-point mark with a sixth consecutive session of moderate gains on Tuesday, largely thanks to the closing auctions, which offset all the morning losses and split stocks down the middle between winners and losers.

The municipality of Athens announced Tuesday it is opening heated areas in the city center to protect the homeless from the cold snap expected on Tuesday night.

National Bank (NBG), Greece's second-largest lender, swapped government bonds worth about 3.8 billion euros ($4.22 billion) with a new 30-year government bond, the finance ministry said on Tuesday, yielding a capital gain for the bank.

The swap reduces the government's refinancing risk as bonds maturing in 5.4 years were exchanged for a new issue maturing in 2050.

Salary workers who also have a second job for which they are paid via an invoice book ("blokaki") will need to have a salary of at least 800 euros per month to avoid having to pay two sets of social security contributions.

State privatizations fund TAIPED has proclaimed an international tender for the utilization of a property of 165,460.40 square meters at the former working site supporting the construction of the Rio-Antirrio bridge.

Around half a billion people work fewer paid hours than they would like, or are not getting enough access to paid work, shows a study published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Monday, which also forecasts that unemployment will rise by about 2.5 million this year, the UN reported.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its growth forecasts for 2019-2021, primarily reflecting negative surprises to economic activity in a few emerging markets.

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the fund expected global economy to grow 2.9 percent in 2019, 3.3 percent in 2020, and 3.4 percent in 2021

The supermarket sector anticipates a year of developments in 2020, after fierce competition in 2019 that saw turnover rise 3.2 percent from 2018.

The fifth consecutive session of moderate growth for the Greek bourse saw the benchmark advance to a new five-year high, as it climbed to levels unseen since December 2014.

Turkey is expected to post an economic growth figure for the past year, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak forecast yesterday.

"We will end 2019 with a historic soft landing in terms of gross domestic product," Albayrak said at a meeting with journalists in Istanbul, adding that inflation will keep being a major indicator for 2020.