Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-08-19

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 19/08/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Turkey thanks Greece for quake assistance
• Archbishop Spyridon confirms his resignation
• Albanians abandon boat, hashish
• Simitis puts an end to early elections rumours
• Equity prices end markedly lower
• Lower rate of increase of regular budget spending
• Hellenic Bottling, Coca Cola Beverages say merger terms set
• Bank of America confident on Greek EMU accession
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

The President of Turkey's National Assembly, Yadirim Akbulut, on Thursday sent a letter to his Greek counterpart, Apostolos Kaklamanis, thanking him for the interest shown by the Greek Parliament in efforts to alleviate the repercussions of the devastating earthquake which has claimed thousands of lives in Turkey.

In the letter, Akbulut expressed his appreciation "for the spirit of solidarity which the Greek Parliament has shown, particularly regarding the despatch of medical assistance for the victims of the earthquake".

Greece was quick to send humanitarian assistance to neighbouring Turkey, including firefighting aircraft, foodstuffs, clothing, medical supplies and personnel and special teams with expertise in extricating quake victims from collapsed buildins.

Meanwhile, the General Air Staff announced the departure for Istanbul on Thursday of another Greek C-130 transport aircraft carrying four Greek doctors, members of the "Doctors of the World" organisation, as well as a truckload of medical supplies.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem telephoned his Greek counterpart George Papandreou yesterday to thank him for the assistance sent by Greece so far.

According to sources, Cem said Greece's assistance was much greater than had been received from other countries and for this reason he expressed the "unreserved appreciation" of the Turkish people.

Archbishop Spyridon confirms his resignation

Archbishop of America Spyridon on Thursday confirmed his resignation following a long period of tension among the Orthodox faithful in the Archdiocese of America, according to an ANA despatch from Montreal.

In a laconic statement to the ANA, Spyridon said he hoped "the future decisions of the Mother Church will prove to be for the good of Orthodoxy and Hellenism of America".

He said he was grateful for having been given the opportunity to contribute "to this holy cause" from his position as Archbishop of America.

Spyridon declined to comment on the reasons for his resignation, but circles in the Greek-American community said the second change in just three years of the prelate holding the post would create further problems for the ethnic Greek community in America.

The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul had for some time been receiving reports from Greek-American groups condemning Spyridon's handling of affairs and claiming that he was "allied" with a particular section of the ethnic Greek community.

Earlier this year, Spyridon attributed the tension to "defamation" by a small group of his "enemies".

The Ecumenical Patriarchate's Holy Synod unanimously elected Spyridon as Archbishop of America on July 30, 1996.

The Synod is due to convene in Istanbul this eveninng to name Spyridon's replacement.

Albanians abandon boat, hashish

Two Albanians early on Thursday were forced to abandon a speedboat in which they had tried to enter Greece with 13.5 kilos of hashish, under heavy fire from coast guard officers in the sea area between Albanian and the Greek holiday island of Corfu.

As the speedboat approached a remote beach on Corfu at dawn, it was spotted by a coast guard patrol boat carrying three heavily armed officers.

The two Albanians were ordered to stop for an inspection but instead they headed back to the Albanian coast at high speed.

The coast guard fired warning shots and the two Albanians jumped into the sea and escaped arrest by swimming back to the Albanian coast.

The hashish, wrapped in 15 airtight packets, and the speedboat were both seized.

Simitis puts an end to early elections rumours

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Wednesday put an end to the rumours over early elections during his meeting with PASOK Secretary Costas Skandalidis and Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis. According to reports, the premier said to the two men that there is no chance of early elections, while he added that a government reshuffle is not an issue to be discussed at present. Mr. Simitis's discussions with Mr. Laliotis focused on the political conditions in conjunction with initi atives, which the government should undertake.

They also discussed issues concerning the operation of the government and political planning.

Equity prices end markedly lower

Equity prices succumbed to profit-taking to end substantially lower on Thursday, ending a 12-session record rally which pushed the market 15 percent higher.

Dealers said the fall was a normal correction of prices and a necessary move before the next attempt to break the 5,000 level, probably next week.

Analysts expect the market to fall to the 4,700 level during its current correction.

The general index ended 1.48 percent lower at 4,885.56 points, off the day's lows.

Blue chip stocks in the banks and industrials sectors came under heavy pressure, while stocks in the investment and leasing sectors attracted heavy demand. A total of 140 shares ended at their highest levels in 1999.

Sector indices ended as follows: Banks (-1.94 pct), Insurance (-1.88 pct), Construction (+0.78 pct), Miscellaneous (-2.21 pct), Leasing (+5.33 pct), Investment (+1.93 pct), Industrials (-1.53 pct) and Holding (-1.97 pct).

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 0.16 percent higher while the FTSE/ASE 20 index fell 2.0 percent to 2,697.17 points.

Turnover was 278.076 billion drachmas with 36,970,333 shares changing hands.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 161 to 127 with another nine issues unchanged.

A total of 37 shares ended at the day's 8.0 percent limit up.

Unifon and Ergo Invest were the most heavily traded stocks while Unifon, National Bank, Hellenic Telecoms and Mytilineos led the day's turnover.

National Bank of Greece ended at 22,200 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 22, 620, Commercial Bank at 27,100, Ergobank at 30,860, Titan Cement at 34,750, Hellenic Petroleum at 3,150, Intracom at 22,605, Minoan Lines at 7,200, Panafon at 8,670 and Hellenic Telecoms at 6,520.

Lower rate of increase of regular budget spending

Regular budget spending increased 4.1 percent in the seven month period from January to July 1999, down substantially from a rise of 12.9 percent in the corresponding period last year and below a budget target for an annual growth of 5.5 percent.

Primary budget spending growth also slowed to 4.1 percent in the first seven months of the year compared with an increase of 12.2 percent in 1998.

More spectacular was a decline in public debt's interest payments to 9.9 percent in the seven-month period, compared with 16 and 26.5 percent in the first six- and five-months of the year, respectively.

The government has set a target for an annual growth of 2.4 percent in interest payments this year.

A finance ministry announcement said that regular budget's revenues increased by 12.1 percent in the same period, up from an annual target of 6.1 percent.

Hellenic Bottling, Coca Cola Beverages say merger terms set

Hellenic Bottling and Coca Cola Beverages (CCB) of the United Kingdom said yesterday that the terms of their planned merger have been finalised.

The Greek firm is to acquire CCB through the merger. The expanded company will be listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, where Hellenic Bottling already trades. CCB will be delisted on the London Stock Exchange but the new firm may eventually seek to r e-list there.

The two firms said in a joint statement that approval for the merger has to be secured from the European Union's executive Commission.

If the merger deal is endorsed in the first stage, the Commission will announce a decision by the end of September.

If further study is needed, then a decision will be released early in 2000.

For the merger to go ahead, the Coca Cola Company has to vote in favour of the merger and accept new shares to be issued by Hellenic Bottling.

Bank of America confident on Greek EMU accession

The latest Journal of Commerce issue contains a brief reference to the annual report by the Bank of America, which expresses confidence that Greece will meet all the criteria required for being admitted to European Economi c and Monetary Union in 2001, despite the inflation criterion showing certain large fluctuations recently.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Wednesday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          307.212
Pound sterling       493.064
Japanese yen (100)   271.570
French franc          49.346
German mark          165.500
Italian lira (100)    16.717
Irish Punt           411.001
Belgian franc          8.024
Finnish mark          54.441
Dutch guilder        146.883
Danish kr.            43.533
Austrian sch.         23.523
Spanish peseta         1.945
Swedish kr.           37.006
Norwegian kr.         39.396
Swiss franc          202.090
Port. Escudo           1.615
Can. dollar          207.229
Aus. dollar          197.592
Cyprus pound         560.083
Euro                 323.690

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