ENGLISH EDITION

Infrastructure Minister Kostas Karamanlis had announced that the expansion of the Western Regional Ymittos to Vouliagmeni Avenue would proceed as a public project. However, in recent weeks the ministry seems to have changed opinion.

Attica Odos is the most profitable in Greece, excluding any extensions as in the last seven years as today’s shareholders (ELLAKTOR and AVAX) have received in the form of dividends more than 700 million euros without including the hundreds of millions they receive for its maintenance.

The trend of continuous increases in deposits reflects growing confidence in the Greek financial system, however, doubts remain about the course of the pandemic and the implementation of new restrictive measures.

Prices in Athens are on the rise in most student areas. The largest increases have been recorded in Kallithea, Neos Kosmos, Pagrati Zografou and Exarchia.

Speaking on SKAI TV, he was then asked about the economic cost of preventing unvaccinated people from visiting restaurants and cinemas, the minister said that "any restriction on the proper functioning of the economy has a cost to the economy.

Interest for a 67% stake in OLI is expected to come from a number of strong groups such as the Italian group Grimaldi, that controls Minoan Lines, AVIAREPS of the Cretan businessman G. Grylos, GEK TERNA, and shipping companies such as Attica and possibly foreign investment groups.

As the BoG stated in its latest Monetary Policy Report, the primary deficit in terms of enhanced supervision was projected to fall to 3.9% of GDP this year from 7% of GDP in 2020.

In combination with encouraging data on the tourist season, optimism is growing for an economic growth rate in 2021 that will exceed the Finance Ministry’s moderate forecasts (3.6%) and will probably move towards the more optimistic forecast of IOBE (5% - 5.5%), or even higher, unless of course there are negative developments regarding the pandemic.

100% of Wind shares will be acquired by United Group, as announced by Wind, a transaction that changes the balance of competition in the Greek market, as the third and fourth players are placed under a common business umbrella and are seen better challenging market leaders Cosmote and Vodafone.

The new shares from the group’s 120.5 million euro share capital hike started trading on the Athens bourse on Friday and the mobility was particularly intense, outlining the ongoing conflict between the main shareholders although the session’s total trading was sluggish (32.476 million euros) ahead of the August 15 break.