Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-09-12

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek government's negotiations with institutions resume on Monday

[02] Moody's says reduction of NPLs credit positive for Greek banks

[03] Greek-Turkish trade relations better than ever, says Alt.FM Mardas

[04] PM Tsipras visits fire stricken island of Thassos

[01] Greek government's negotiations with institutions resume on Monday

According to schedule, negotiations will start at 14.30 pm local time on the new privatisation fund, focusing on the staffing of the supervisory council of the Fund that will be formed by three representatives of the Greek side and two representatives of the institutions. Negotiations on combating corruption will start at 15:30.

[02] Moody's says reduction of NPLs credit positive for Greek banks

In its Moody's Credit Outlook, the credit rating agency said that the four largest Greek banks reported their second quarter results at the end of August, which showed a decline in the formation of new NPLs, after a significant slowdown in the previous two quarters. This development, combined with a reduced spending base, is credit positive although bad loan provisions continued to absorb a big part of pre-provision earnings, Moody's said.

Lower NPLs and a smaller spending base will help banks to return to profitabiity, after big losses suffered in the last few years, Moody's noted, adding it expected the percentage of NPEs to improved with a delay of at least one year compared with NPLs. The credit rating agency stressed that the sale of loan portfolios will play a critical role in lightening the burden of NPLs on Greek banks' balance sheets and said that participation of foreign funds in such transactions depended on the Greek government's ability to successfully complete and timely the reviews of the Greek bailout programme.

[03] Greek-Turkish trade relations better than ever, says Alt.FM Mardas

"Our relations are better but there is room for further improvement and that is our intention", Mardas said addressing the Turkish enterpreneurs, the Turkish Consul in Thessaloniki Yalman Okan and other guests.

Mardas noted that during the last 10 years the Greek-Turkish trade relations have gained spectacular ground and noted that the general secretariat of International Economic Relations of the Foreign Ministry supports the efforts and the cooperation between Greek and Turkish businessmen.

[04] PM Tsipras visits fire stricken island of Thassos

Thassos mayor Costas Hatziemmanouil welcomed Tsipras and briefed him on the course of the operation. Afterwards, Tsipras got on board the helicopter that flied over the fire stricken areas.

Later, Tsipras will hold a meeting at the operation center at Prinos.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article