The government has already borrowed 37.5 billion euros this year, against an annual target of 34 billion euros, the director of the Public Debt Management Organization, Spyros Papanikolaou, said yesterday. He said that the state has also made 15 swap transactions totaling 7.5 billion euros, which saved interest of 250 million euros. He added there is no particular risk from the rise in interest or exchange rates, as 98 percent of Greek debt is in euros, “but this does not mean that if needed we will not borrow in foreign currencies,” while 85 percent of the debt is in fixed interest rates. However, there was borrowing of 3.5 billion euros from Greek banks this year in floating rate.

Phone and accessories retailer Germanos yesterday said its Sunlight battery production unit has won a contract to supply submarine battery accumulators for the Pakistan navy, without disclosing the value of the deal. Germanos said that following a successful international bid, Sunlight would supply one submarine battery accumulator type Agosta 90B and one submarine accumulator X-Craft. Germanos said the new agreement sets the basis for further cooperation with Pakistan, whose navy includes five Agosta type submarines and four Daphne type submarines. “The uptake of the two new projects establishes the presence of Sunlight in the submarine accumulator replacement market amongst major manufacturers,” the company said in a statement. (Reuters)

Dairy products group Delta Holdings yesterday said it is in talks with snack foods company Chipita with a view to an ongoing business cooperation. “The negotiations are developing rapidly with a view to their immediate completion, on which we will make the relative announcement for investors,” Delta said in a statement issued after the stock market closed. (Reuters)

MJ Maillis, the listed strapping and packaging materials company, has completed the acquisition of the remaining 55 percent stake of US-based MSN for $440,000 through its MSS USA Inc subsidiary, it said in a statement. It also announced the operation of a second unit producing polyesteric film from February. “Our aim for 2006 is to increase sales in 2006 in the big US market, expand geographically and yield profits from the investments and acquisitions we made in 1999-2002,” said the group’s president and CEO, Michalis Maillis.

Cyprus’s EU harmonized consumer price inflation was 2.0 percent year-on-year in November, down from 2.2 percent in October, the statistics department said yesterday. For the January-November 2005 period the index, known as HICP, was running at 2.1 percent. (Reuters)