In Brief
Greek central banker among world’s best paid Bank of Greece Governor Giorgos Provopoulos is among the most well-paid central bank governors in the world, according to Reuters. A list prepared by the news agency showed that Provopoulos earns 362,500 euros, or $465,885 per year, versus 345,252 euros paid to European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is paid $191,300, while ECB Vice President Lucas Papademos has an annual salary of 295,920 euros. Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi tops the list of EU central bankers, earning 500,000 euros, according to the news agency, while the remuneration received by Slovenia’s Marko Kranjec is just 97,800 euros. Cyprus has no plans for bailout package NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus has no need for a government bailout package because the fundamentals of its banking system are sound, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said yesterday. Stavrakis told Reuters by phone that the government stood by its pledge to assist any bank in the «highly theoretical and unlikely» event that an institution runs into difficulties. Authorities announced plans earlier this month to raise the minimum guarantee for bank deposits to 100,000 euros from 20,000 euros. «The government feels that because of the fundamental strength of the banking system, it does not need to implement any other policy measures,» Stavrakis said. (Reuters) Olive oil production World olive oil production in 2008/09 will be 2.7 million tons, up from 2.6 million the previous season, a spokesman for the International Olive Council said yesterday. The Madrid-based IOC estimated global stocks stood at 645,000 tons at the end of September and chief IOC economist Gerard Brousse predicted world consumption would rise to 2.9 million tons in 2008/09 from 2.8 million the previous season. Brousse said output was expected to increase gradually over the coming years due to trees maturing in several countries which had stepped up planting in the past decade, notably Argentina, Peru and Australia. (Reuters) Privatization delay The Serbian government will delay next year’s planned sale of a minority stake in Telekom Srbija AD because of the global slump in stock markets. Earlier this year, Serbia said it would sell about 10 percent through an initial public offering in the second quarter of 2009. The shares would then trade on exchanges in London, Belgrade and Frankfurt. Serbia owns 80 percent of the company, while Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) of Greece owns the rest. «It won’t happen as scheduled,» Predrag Kovacevic, an adviser to Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic, said at a press conference yesterday. (Bloomberg) Minimum impact Medium-sized Turkish lender Finansbank expects the global crisis to have little impact on the bank, Finansbank Chief Executive Omer Aras told Reuters yesterday. Aras said the bank contributed 29 percent to the first-half profits of its parent National Bank of Greece and that he expected Finansbank’s total loans to grow 24 percent this year and 15 percent next year due to the economic slowdown. (Reuters)
