In Brief
Budget expenses overshoot target in January-February Primary public spending overshot budget provisions in the first two months of the year, rising 13.5 percent in relation to the same period in 2001 and against an annual target of 5.4 percent, according to a Finance Ministry bulletin released yesterday. Interest on public debt fell 2.5 percent against a target of 7.9 percent. Revenues rose 1.1 percent against a 6.1-percent annual target, causing the public borrowing requirement to rise 59.4 percent, a targeted annual reduction of 425.5 percent. The ministry views the rise in spending as temporary and says it is due to the abolition for the first time of the extension of the fiscal year into the first two months of the calendar year, to emergency supports for crops hit by bad weather, and to higher grants to social security funds for benefits to pensioners and large families. Four consortia short-listed for Ionian highway The Environment and Public Works Ministry yesterday short-listed four consortia to proceed with the second phase of the construction tender to build the Ionian motorway from Antirio to the city of Ioannina in western Greece. The four consortia are: (1) Hellenic Autopistas, which includes construction firms GEK and Terna, with the following composition: Cintra, ACS PA, GEK, Terna, Ferrovial-Agroman and ACS Proyectos Obras y Construcciones. (2) Bouygues-ASF-Archirodon-ALTE, with the following composition: Bouygues Travaux Publics, Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF), ALTE, Archirodon, Meletitiki Ergon Ypodomis and Odotechniki. (3) Hermes, which includes construction firms Athena and Lamda Development, with the following composition: Athena, Grupo Dragados, Dragados Obras y Proyectos, Hochtief Projektenwicklung, Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft, Lamda Development, Skanska BOT and Skanska Civil Engineering. (4) Aias, which includes Greek contractor Avax with the following composition: Vinci, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Ioannou & Paraskevaidis, Avax, Eteth, Dromos, Tomi.(Reuters) Public subscription Ygeia Hospital today launches its public subscription for listing on the Athens bourse, at a price range of between 4.50 and 4.94 euros per share. The subscription, to last until Friday, targets raising between 17.54 and 19.25 million euros, to be used for the purchase of new mechanical equipment and a software system and the expansion of premises. Ygeia posted pretax profits of 14.8 million euros from a turnover of 74.5 million euros in 2001. The company has a capitalization estimated between 192.6 and 211.4 million euros. Eurodrip Irrigation systems company Eurodrip has initialed an agreement for a 100-percent acquisition of Jordan’s National Drip Irrigation Co, according to a statement yesterday. The Amman-based company has been a commercial partner of Eurodrip, which is targeting the market of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iraq, the statement said. I think that the Iran gas pipeline is a very long-term project. In the short term, there may be some political constraints, but I hope that these political difficulties will be overcome eventually. After all, we need several energy alternatives, as far as sources, locations and pipeline destinations are concerned.
