Economy

The European Commission plans to significantly revise down its growth forecast for Greece this year, its Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis was quoted as saying on Sunday.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

Greek banks are sailing in uncharted waters as they hope for a swift agreement between the government and its eurozone peers to lift the current uncertainty. Deposits have declined to their lowest levels since the outbreak of the crisis.

As a deal between Greece and its creditors appears far from imminent, concerns mounted over the weekend over the country?s finances and its prospects within the eurozone as a US Federal Reserve report indicated that the risk of a possible Greek exit from the common currency area has grown and is leading Europe into uncharted waters.

Police in Kilkis, northern Greece, said on Saturday that they had smashed a criminal racket alleged to have smuggled thousands of packets of contraband cigarettes into Greece.

Police said they arrested four Greek nationals, aged 24, 36, 37 and 48, on a rural road near the country?s border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) late on Thursday.

The federation of Greek train workers on Friday announced that a work stoppage originally announced for Monday had been canceled.

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Education Srdjan Verbic and representatives of two teachers' unions signed a deal to resolve outstanding issues and a special collective agreement for employees in primary and secondary schools and dormitories, which marked an end to a five-month teachers' strike action on Friday.

German bund yields were on track for their biggest weekly rise of 2015 on Friday as fears of an imminent Greek default eased, though strategists still saw European Central Bank bond buying as a powerful driver in the opposite direction.

Fairfax Financial Holdings, which bet on the success of a Greek turnaround last year, said on Thursday it is confident that Greece will reach a deal with its counterparts in the eurozone and remain a part of the currency bloc.

The response of the European Central Bank would be key to the consequences of a missed payment by Greece to the International Monetary Fund, Fitch Ratings said on Friday.

?We still see a last-minute deal to secure fiscal funding from Greece?s creditors as the most likely outcome, but the risk of a missed payment cannot be discounted.?

[Reuters]

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic thanked the unions of teachers for ending the strike started on November 17, and promised that he will do all in his power so that they are the first to feel the good results of the difficult reforms that the government is implementing.