ECONOMY

In Brief

No change in social security policy before the elections, IMF told Labor Minister Vassilis Magginas yesterday reiterated the government’s decision not to touch on the social security problem before the general elections, during a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The interest of IMF representatives focused on the issues of social security reforms, the labor market and the investment activity of social security funds. They also asked the competent committee of experts, headed by the former president of the Economic and Social Committee, Nikos Analytis, about the progress of the study on pensions by the International Labor Office. The ILO should have its study completed by this fall; the committee will then proceed to the study’s demographic consequences. Turkey says Albania, FYROM want Caspian gas ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) want to buy Caspian natural gas from a Turkey-Greece pipeline that is due to start operating shortly, Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said yesterday. The $300 million, 285-kilometer (177-mile) Turkey-Greece pipeline, which will start operating on August 10 and will be extended to Italy, will have an annual capacity of 12 billion cubic meters. «Other countries also want to buy gas from the Turkey-Greece pipeline. Albania and Macedonia want gas from this pipeline,» Guler told an energy conference in Istanbul. Energy conference The first SE Europe Energy Dialogue begins tomorrow in Thessaloniki, organized by the Institute for Energy in Southeastern Europe. The two-day event will focus on efforts to establish an Energy Community in Southeast Europe, with the presentation by Italian company Edison of the natural gas pipeline linking Turkey, Greece and Italy, and by Swiss firm EGL of the Transadriatic pipeline through Turkey, Greece, Albania and Italy. Speakers will include Narsi Ghorban of the International Institute for Caspian Studies in Tehran, Helge Billington of Statoil, Kursat Capanoglu of Turkey’s Botas and Slav Slavov from the World Energy Council. Corrupt tax officials The Finance Ministry’s disciplinary councils, which are getting down to work today, are expected to call for the questioning about 80 tax officials implicated in corrupted practices. Sources, which said that ministers are eagerly awaiting the results of the probe, added they consider it certain that at least half of those implicated will be dismissed. The ministry has set up an evaluation committee, which received 500 complaints in 2006. Cyprus growth Cyprus’s economy is forecast to expand by 3.9 percent in 2007, marginally higher than last year, and 4 percent thereafter until 2010, according to Cyprus Finance Ministry estimates. (Reuters) Turkish energy Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com) has announced the addition of the Turkey Energy Market Infrastructure Report to their offering. This report provides comprehensive analysis and charts on the gas and electricity infrastructure, including capacity and length.

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