Economy

The rates of Value Added Tax (VAT) are to rise as of July 1, based on a tax bill recently passed by Parliament. The regular VAT rate on most goods will increase from 21 percent at present to 23 percent,...

Prime minister George Papandreou pledged on Friday that his government will take additional measures to boost the entrepreneurship and competitiveness of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), including a reduction in taxation, when more stable results are achieved in...

The Swedish publisher of free newspapers, Metro International, said Thursday it had sold its Greek division because of the economic crisis in the country, which sank the paper's ad revenue. "The Greek (advertising) market has been affected by some...

Greece's current accouts deficit worsened in the January-April period, totalling 12.9 billion euros, up 25.5 pct compared with the corresponding period last year, reflecting a significant decline in current transfers from the EU to the general government (232 million...

In an interview published in the Wall Street Journal, Greek Central Bank chief, G. Provopoulos said Greek banks had sufficient capital to see it through recent upheavals and ruled out possibility of Greece's bankruptcy. This is the reason why...

Greece's financial crimes squad SDOE on Friday released details of action it has taken in recent months to uncover incidents of tax evasion and corruption, such as checking for swimming pools and leisure boats that are undeclared or registered...

Moody's considers that under its base-case scenario the risk of a Greek default is about 7% over the next five years, according to a report Saturday in local newspaper Isotimia. Earlier this week Moody's cut Greece four notches to junk...

Finance Minister, George Papakonstantinou (photo) on Friday visited the headquarters of the Financial Crime Enforcement Body (SDOE). He said that 6.000 cases of tax violations have been referred in the first 5 months in 2010 compared to 4.000 cases...

Major changes in Greece's labour relations are at the gate. The new provisions, which practically put everything that the agreement provides for into practice, related to the rise in the redundancy threshold and the compensation given in case of...

Cash strapped Greece announced Tuesday it intends to remove ban on gaming machines to raise revenue, Reuters reported. “The regulative framework will soon be presented for public consultation,” read a statement from the ministry. The original plan called for €1.3 billion...

Greek inflation jumped to 5.3 pct in May, up from 4.7 pct in April, Eurostat announced on Wednesday. The EU executiveâs statistics agency, in a report, said the inflation rate in the Eurozone rose to 1.6 pct in May from...

U.S. markets pared their gains in late morning and on into the afternoon, after Moodys Investor Services analyst Sarah Carlson downgraded Greece’s sovereign debt rating to “junk” status, Ba1, from a prior rating of A3, and downgraded the country’s...

Greece is to face the first crucial test after the signing of the memorandum as EU, EUC and IMF fiscal experts arrive in Athens today. The Troika will audit the numbers ( revenues, state expenditures) and visit Ministries to...

Greece's prime minister on Friday called on European countries to make a EUR440 billion stabilization fund permanent, in a bid to improve economic governance in the region. "We should now work for a permanent stabilization fund, a new European monetary...

Standard and Poor΄s does not think that a Greek debt default in the near term and a breakup of the euro zone are inevitable, a senior official of the ratings agency said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. David Beers, head of...