ECONOMY

In Brief

Gov’t spokesman: Talks of rise in electricity rates untimely Any discussion about raising Public Power Corporation (PPC) rates is untimely, said government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros yesterday, in response to a question on a statement by PPC CEO Dimitris Maniatakis, who said these should be adjusted to take into account higher oil costs. «Decisions on utility rates rises are made… [and] signed by competent ministers,» Antonaros stressed. He dismissed speculation of problems between the government and PPC management. By law, PPC, a listed company, cannot raise rates at will as long as it has more than 70 percent of the electricity market. Greeks again top visitors to Bulgaria in 2005 The number of foreign visitors to Bulgaria rose by 4.5 percent in 2005, with Greeks again in the lead, according to data published by the country’s Ministry of Culture. Almost half of the 4,837,150 tourists visiting Bulgaria last year were from the European Union. Greeks totaled 665,894, or 13.7 percent of all arrivals, recording an 11.3 percent decline from 2004. They were followed by visitors from Germany and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). LogicDIS sale EFG Eurobank agreed yesterday to sell its 28.4 percent stake in computer software firm LogicDIS to Greek Information Technology Holdings SA (GIT Holdings). The total value of the deal is 23.9 million euros. GIT Holdings owns two unlisted software companies – Singular Software and Singular Integrator. Safer e-commerce Mastercard International announced yesterday a new program promoting security in online transactions that will be applied in Greece, too. Mastercard SecureCode allows card owners to enter a PIN only known by them when making transactions on the Internet. Ballast management OSG Ship Management (GR) Ltd recently collected the Ballast Water Management Plan Notation from Lloyd’s Register, becoming the first tanker operator to have its entire fleet of 32 products and chemical carriers awarded such a distinction. Lloyd’s Register has developed a new ballast management model following guidelines by the Maritime Environment Protection Committee and the International Maritime Organization. Deadline extended The Finance Ministry yesterday gave a further extension for the submission of personal property declarations (form E9) and firms’ clients and suppliers list of transactions for 2004 to February 10. Also, the deadline for value-added tax (VAT) declarations for the third quarter of 2005, which expired yesterday, was extended to January 31.

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