In Brief
UBS paints a very positive picture of local banking sector Swiss bank UBS sees positive prospects in the Greek banking sector, according to a report issued yesterday. UBS goes as far as to recommend the purchase of shares in NBG, EFG Eurobank, Alpha Bank and ATEbank. The Swiss bank argues that the Greek credit groups continue to show a health rise in loans issued in the domestic market, strong borrowing spreads and good deposit spreads. They also have excellent growth prospects thanks to their activities in emerging markets. Separately, Goldman Sachs considers the stock of National Bank of Greece to be one of the most attractive and relatively safe investments in the European banking sector. Cyprus tax revenue rises by 49 percent year-on-year Cyprus’s total direct tax revenues for January to July increased 49 percent year-on-year to 591.5 million Cyprus pounds (1.03 billion euros), the Inland Revenue department said yesterday. The increase was largely attributed to revenue from capital gains tax, which rose 178 percent year on year to 156 million Cyprus pounds. Corporate tax revenue increased to 119.5 million Cyprus pounds or by 45 percent year on year. (Reuters) Bulgarian fiscal surplus Bulgaria will produce a fiscal surplus of up to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 to counter its expanding current account imbalance, Finance Minister Plament Oresharski said yesterday. «The budget surplus this year will be between 2.3-2.5 percent of GDP. This will be possible because of revenue out-performance and cuts in spending,» Oresharski told reporters. (Reuters) Turkish firm in Iran Turkish petrol company TPAO said yesterday it is pressing ahead with plans to invest $3.5 billion in Iran’s South Pars gas field and hopes to sign further agreements in the first quarter of next year. The plan will also help transport gas to Turkey from Turkmenistan, with which Turkey has an export contract. The United States has protested against the plans and is preparing a bill that would punish any company or country that invests more than $20 million in the Islamic Republic. (Reuters) Nokia-Siemens deal Bosnia’s Telekom Srpske said yesterday it has signed a 30-million-euro deal with Nokia Siemens Networks, the Finnish-German network solutions provider. The contract was to upgrade the network and service of Telekom Srpske’s mobile telecommunications operator M:tel, the company said in a statement. Serbia’s state-owned telecoms firm Telekom Srbije is the majority owner of Telekom Srpske, which has 345,000 fixed-line users and 572,000 mobile subscribers in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. (AFP)
