In Brief
Thessaloniki considering a bid for 2007-08 World Expo Macedonia-Thrace Minister Giorgos Paschalidis yesterday handed Thessaloniki Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos a feasibility study on the proposal for the city to submit its candidacy to host the World Expo 2007-2008. The mayor promised to hold a special meeting of the city council in the next 15 days to discuss it. The city’s Chamber of Trade and Industry (EBETH) threw its weight behind the proposal. «Hosting the event will boost the growth prospects of the city and the wider region, while infrastructure projects will help shape a more favorable environment for enterprises and the local economy,» said a press release. Papageorgopoulos led a delegation to the ministry, protesting Olympic Airways’ recent abolition of direct flights from the city to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. «It makes no sense to be preparing to host the 2003 EU summit while cutting flights from Thessaloniki abroad,» he said. Bank earnings seen weak in first quarter The president of the Athens bourse expects bank earnings will be weak in the first quarter of 2002, due to a drop in bond prices but says profits are likely to improve over the course of the year. «The fall, both in bank profits from bonds in this quarter, does not predetermine their total profitability for 2002. On the contrary, banks’ organic operations show a significant improvement and this is likely to lead to a significant improvement in results by the end of the year,» said Panagiotis Alexakis in an interview published on Saturday with Imerisia newspaper. (Reuters) Northern Greek business The Northern Greece Industries Association (SBBE), in collaboration with Alpha Bank, is holding a seminar on «Corporate Development: Strategies and Alternative Methods of Finance,» tomorrow at 17.30 p.m. at the Mediterranean Palace Hotel in Thessaloniki. For more info, tel. 0310. 539817. Meanwhile, a delegation of the Northern Greece Exporters Association (SEBE), representing 27 firms, is in Bucharest, Romania, for talks on possible partnerships and a briefing on the country’s banking system and various EU-subsidized programs. Tax report Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis is expected to release a committee report on taxation reform on Wednesday, April 10, and announce the launching of dialogue with interest groups on the issue, which should be completed by the end of June, sources say. A draft bill is expected to be tabled in early fall. Rising household debt The total debt of Greek households tripled from 6 percent of GDP in 1996 to 18 percent today and is rising, according to Bank of Greece data released yesterday. In the second quarter of 2001, the respective rate was 50 percent in the eurozone, 74.3 percent in the UK and 90.9 percent in the USA.
