Elementary arithmetic

International travelers coming to Greece were up by 15.6 percent compared to 2013, according to a report released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority, ELSTAT, on Thursday. The report referred to a Frontier Statistical Survey conducted by The Bank of Greece in the January-June 2014 period.

By Dimitra Manifava

Despite the prolonged deflation, basic goods are costing Greek households more, a survey by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) has suggested. Of the 54 food, house cleaning and hygiene products ELSTAT monitors, the cost of 31 has gone up from January 2011 to August 2014, at rates reaching as high as 13.75 percent.

By Sotiris Nikas

The revision of the country’s gross domestic product by the Hellenic Statistical Authority may have cut last year’s contraction rate to 3.3 percent, but it also showed a dramatic contraction of 9 percent in 2011 against a previous estimate of 7 percent.

By Stathis Kousounis

Greek Civil Aviation Authority data showed on Monday that air arrivals from abroad at Greek airports posted a 15 percent rise in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2013, reaching 12.13 million, boosted by a rise in visitors from Britain, France and the US.

The local bourse’s weekly losses came to a painful 5.41 percent at the end of Friday’s session, when the benchmark spent most of the day in the red but managed to redeem itself slightly thanks to a strong showing by buyers in the closing auctions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 1,086.50 points, shedding 0.14 percent from Thursday’s 1,087.98 points.

Salaries in Greece continued to slide in the second quarter of 2014, posting a drop of just over 1 percent compared to slight uptick of 2 percent in Q1, provisional data published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Friday showed.

While Greek stocks contracted on a weekly basis, Friday’s closing auctions provided a happy ending, pushing the benchmark to it’s biggest daily rise in four months, while trading volume soared.

By Dimitra Manifava

Supermarket sales in Greece recorded an increase for the second month in a row in July, amounting to 3.5 percent from July 2013, after June (+3.6 percent) was the first month that the sector had posted annual growth in two years.

This is seen as a sign that the sector is at last reverting to stability.

The momentum created at the Greek bourse on Thursday by the European Central Bank decisions to bolster growth in the eurozone continued on Friday, taking the benchmark close to 1,200 points at the end of a fourth consecutive week of gains. News of a ceasefire in Ukraine also helped.

The Athens stock exchange general index rose – but by the tiniest of margins – for a seventh straight day on Wednesday as it hit 1,177.49 points, an increase of 0.01 percent.

The benchmark fluctuated within a 16-point range during Wednesday’s session and even edged up to 1,184.36 at one stage.

Turnover reached 93.25 million euros.