In Brief
Worrying about the country but not about themselves Six out of 10 Greek people worry about unemployment and the economy, yet only 30 percent believe their families’ finances will deteriorate and just 19 percent think their personal and professional situation will get worse, according to a survey conducted by Eurobarometer and TNS ICAP last November. The Eurobarometer, which records the views of over 30,000 citizens in all current and prospective EU members, has found that unemployment is the greatest worry of Europeans, just ahead of their country’s general financial situation. Postal Savings to go on the block before summer The Post Savings Bank (TT) will be listed on the Athens bourse before the summer. «Based on our program, I believe the flotation will take place before the summer,» TT Chief Executive Panayiotis Tsoupidis told an industry conference yesterday. He said a 25-30 percent stake would be sold via the Athens bourse. The government is also planning to sell holdings in ATEBank and Emporiki Bank. TT has a network of 136 branches countrywide. (Reuters) Ad taxes cut The Finance Ministry announced the special tax imposed on television commercials, which was reduced from November 25, 2005 to 10 percent, will be cut to 5 percent from November 1, 2006 and will be abolished from November 1, 2007. Separately, sports clubs (professional and amateur) will have to pay the Public Order Ministry 10 percent of their revenues from television coverage rights and from international events such as the Olympics, as compensation for the presence of police in those events, which puts an additional burden on the force. Babis Vovos Real estate firm Babis Vovos said yesterday it had arranged a floating-to-fixed interest rate swap with Credit Suisse First Boston to lock the financing cost on its 336-million-euro debt portfolio. Vovos said the decision was based on «anticipation that interest rates may continue to rise after the recent ECB hike.» (Reuters) Attica sale Attica Holdings sold 9,569,070 shares, or 12.329 percent of the share capital of Hellenic Seaways to Amadeus Navigation for 2.20 euros per share, for a total of 21,051,954 euros. Thessaloniki-London British Airways is expanding its Thessaloniki-London service into a daily one as of March 26, departing from Macedonia airport at 4.30 p.m. and arriving in London Gatwick airport at 5.55 p.m. local time.
