In Brief
Intralot signs deal to run Russia lottery Lottery systems supplier Intralot said late on Monday it had signed an agreement with Russian lottery operator Orglot to run a national lottery in the country. Intralot will develop a sales network of more than 16,000 terminals throughout the country, with 4,000 of them to be installed by the end of the year, Intralot said in a statement. No financial details were provided. The agreement paves the way for an expansion of Orglot’s sales network, which, according to the agreement, is expected to reach 40,000 points of sale, the statement said. «The All-Russian State Lottery has a great growth potential and Intralot will contribute to its development and profitability to the benefit of all stakeholders,» Intralot CEO Constantinos Antonopoulos said. Orglot is a subsidiary of Russian banking group Gazprombank, the statement said. (Reuters) Inflation up 2.5 percent year-on-year in July Greek consumer prices rose 2.5 percent on the year in July, slightly below June’s annual rise of 2.6 percent, the National Statistics Service (NSS) said yesterday. All categories of goods and services except one posted an increase, the NSS said. The biggest impact came from the heavily weighted basket for food and non-alcoholic beverages, which rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier. At the same time, there was a 4.3 percent increase in the consumer price index of hotels, cafes and restaurants. Greece’s inflation rate, measured on a 12-month running average, from August 2006 to July 2007, was up 2.8 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. (AP) Bond trade The volume of Greek government debt traded on the central bank’s electronic system (HDAT) fell to 55.74 billion euros in July from 58.85 billion in June, the Bank of Greece said. The most actively traded bond was the 10-year benchmark which recorded 21.2 billion euros’ worth of transactions. Bond yields fell along the entire maturity spectrum in July, in line with the performance in the rest of the eurozone. The 10-year benchmark bond yield dropped by 10 basis points to 4.69 percent, with that on 30-year paper also down 11 basis points to 4.92 percent. The average monthly yield spread between Greek and German 10-year benchmark bonds widened to 27 from 22 basis points in June. (Reuters) Standardization The Hellenic Organization for Standardization (ELOT) has completed the translation into Greek of European-harmonized standards for the construction sector, in compliance with EU Directive 89/106. The translation includes 92 European standards in more than 1,700 pages. Building permits Greek construction activity, measured by the number of new building permits, fell 13.5 percent year-on-year in May, the country’s statistics service (NSS) said. A total of 32,559 new permits were issued around the country in the first five months of the year, down 1.8 percent from a year earlier. (Reuters)
