Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-05-27

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Nikos Garganas named new central bank governor

[02] PM forecasts general gov't surplus at 0.8 pct of GDP in 2002

[03] Exhibition on Parthenon Marbles in Europarliament

[04] Greek president to visit Australia next Tuesday

[05] Seamen to strike on May 29, June 11

[06] Greece gets new central bank governor - sources

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[08] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Tuesday

[09] Greek stocks end below 2,300 level on Monday

[01] Nikos Garganas named new central bank governor

The Bank of Greece, the country's central bank, on Monday elected Nikos Garganas as its new governor in a move backed by the government.

Garganas, until now deputy governor, was unanimously elected to his new position by the bank's general council. A parliamentary committee has to approve the appointment.

He replaces Lucas Papademos, who has been named vice president of the European Central Bank.

Papademos, who recommended Garganas for the post to the government, submitted his resignation to the general council, effective on June 1.

Chosen as deputy governor of the Bank of Greece to replace Garganas was Nikos Paleokrassas, a member of the institution's monetary committee.

[02] PM forecasts general gov't surplus at 0.8 pct of GDP in 2002

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Monday forecast a general government surplus of 0.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.

At a meeting with leaders of the Association of Greek Industry (SEB), Simitis also said that the public debt as a percentage of GDP was steadily declining.

The International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development had welcomed the government's fiscal policy, while noting that factors including high defence spending and a rise in the dollar had slowed the pace of the public debt's decline.

Furthermore, growth was forecast at 3.8 percent of GDP in 2002, three times the anticipated European Union average for the same period, despite a global recession, Simitis said.

Inflation was about one percentage point higher than the EU average as Greece had the second highest rate of growth in the 15-nation bloc, fuelled by private and state investment at around 10 percent, he added.

The prime minister also discussed an overhaul of the social insurance system and reform of the tax system with SEB's board.

The trade group's president, Odysseus Kyriakopoulos, told reporters that the meeting had been ''constructive.''

[03] Exhibition on Parthenon Marbles in Europarliament

BRUSSELS (ANA - M. Spinthourakis) - The Parthenon Marbles housed in the British Museum are placed atop the Athenian temple albeit in photographs, in an exhibition entitled ''Sculptures in Exile'' which opened on Monday in the Europarliament.

The exhibition was organized by Eurodeputies Alekos Alavanos, Dimitrios Tsatsos, Stavros Xarhakos, N. Kleg and N. Ahern, in cooperation with the Greek culture ministry and the Melina Mercouri Foundation.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Wednesday by Commissioner Viviane Reding, after a one-day conference on the issue, with the participation of academics and supporters of the return of the marbles to Greece.

[04] Greek president to visit Australia next Tuesday

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos will visit Australia next week, following an invitation by the country's Governor General Rev. Peter Hollingworth.

The Greek president will arrive in Australia for a five-day visit on Tuesday June 4.

The last visit by a Greek head of state in Australia was in 1988.

[05] Seamen to strike on May 29, June 11

Seamen are to launch rolling 48-hour strikes beginning on June 11, the Panhellenic Seamen's Federation said on Monday.

The strike call is for seamen on all categories of ships to press for a timescale from the government for an increase in seamen's pensions to 80 percent of wages before retirement, and a rise in supplementary pensions to total 30 percent of the main pension.

The federation's leader, John Halas, told a news conference that seamen also wanted a doubling of one-off welfare allowances, and the creation of a seamen's unemployment fund.

In addition, seamen on passenger ships are to stage a 24-hour strike on May 29 in a separate walkout.

[06] Greece gets new central bank governor - sources

The new governor of the Bank of Greece, or central bank, is Nikos Garganas, sources said on Monday.

Garganas, until now a deputy governor, was elected to the position by the bank's general council, the sources said.

He replaces Lucas Papademos, who is to become vice president of the European Central Bank.

Chosen as deputy governor of the Bank of Greece to replace Garganas was Nikos Paleokrassas, a member of the central bank's monetary committee, the same sources said.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.926

Pound sterling 0.636

Danish kroner 7.495

Swedish kroner 9.214

Japanese yen 115.7

Swiss franc 1.470

Norwegian kroner 7.499

Cyprus pound 0.583

Canadian dollar 1.422

Australian dollar 1.664

[08] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Tuesday

Mostly sunny weather is forecast all parts of the country with scattered cloud in the west and north, which may also see storms in the evening. Winds variable, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 14C to 25C; on the rest of the mainland from 15C to 30C; and in the islands from 17C to 28C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 16C and 30C. Thessaloniki may seen rain or a storm in the evening, with temperatures from 15C to 25C.

[09] Greek stocks end below 2,300 level on Monday

Greek stocks lost substantial ground in the first trading session of the week in the Athens Stock Exchange on Monday, hit by waves of profit taking in smaller and medium sized capitalisation stocks.

The general index fell 1.34 percent to end below the 2,300 support level, at 2,298.42 points, with turnover a low 78.8 million euros.

The Publication, Retail and Investment sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (4.30 percent, 2.81 percent and 2.58 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.81 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 2.10 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index dropped 2.70 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 303 to 46 with another 16 issues unchanged.

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