Economy of Greece

The persisting gloomy outlook sent Greek stocks south for a tenth straight session on Friday.

The strong pressure on stocks, which doesn’t look like abating anytime soon, is considered a combined result of geopolitical tensions, uncertainty over banks in view of the ECB stress tests and the upcoming announcement of listed firms’ first-half results, due by the end of the month.

A rebound in bank shares failed to avert a further slide for the Athens stock market’s general index on Thursday in a session described as an exciting slogging match between buyers and sellers.

The banks index gained 4.17 percent to 144 points, led by Piraeus (7.94 percent) and buttressed by National Bank (3.14 percent), Eurobank (3.62 percent) and Alpha (2.09 percent).

The Greek bourse reverted to a downward course on Tuesday, with the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ending at 1,195.96 points after shedding 1.43 percent from Monday’s 1,213.31 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 index contracted 1.56 percent to close at 384.20 points.

LONDON – The first batch of issuance under a “minibond” program that the Athens Exchange Group (ATHEX) has been promoting to finance Greek SMEs is set for launch after the summer break.

 Fund remains against horizontal cuts to salaries and pensions

By Katerina Sokou

The International Monetary Fund insists that Greece’s debt needs to be restructured and is waiting for the issue to be discussed this fall in the context of the Greek economy’s next assessment, a spokesman for the Washington-based Fund confirmed on Thursday.

Greece's economy should grow 0.7 percent this year, pulling clear of a six-year recession, but its soaring unemployment rate is likely to drop less than hoped, the country's leading economic think tank said on Wednesday.

Greece's economy is expected to grow by 0.7 percent this year pulling itself out of a six-year recession, helped by higher tourism revenues and stronger household spending, the Athens-based IOBE think tank said on Wednesday.

IOBE had earlier predicted a small economic expansion for the year, without setting a forecast.

By Margarita Pournara

A recent visit by newly appointed Culture Minister Costas Tasoulas to the Archaeological Site of Nemea brought some good news to one of the country’s leading sites, which has been struggling to stay open due to staff and security shortages since the start of the crisis.

Greece raised 1.5 billion euros from the issue of a three-year bond on Thursday with a yield of 3.5 percent, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Athens said it received orders worth 3 billion euros. It had been expected to raise between 2.5 billion to 3 billion euros but faced lackluster demand following concerns about the health of a parent company of Portugal's largest bank.

 Having secured 1-bln-euro sub-tranche from eurozone, Finance Ministry will proceed to 3-year debt issue

By Eleni Varvitsiotis and Sotiris Nikas