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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-02-24
CONTENTS
[01] New Crete airport to open in 2014
[02] BoG Gov. on SE European banks
[01] New Crete airport to open in 2014
A new airport in Kastelli, on the large island of Crete, is scheduled
to open in 2014, Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister
George Souflias said during a meeting with local administration
officials in Irakleio, Crete on Tuesday. Tenders will be considered in
May and a contractor will undertake the 1.2-million-euro project by the
end of the year. Construction of a new road linking the airport with
the north and south road axes on Crete will be included in related
infrastructure projects. The airport, auxiliary facilities and
infrastructure will cover an area of 600 hectares, including a
3.8-km-long runway to accommodate large aircraft and meet the island's
needs in air transportation. Roughly 1,000 jobs are expected to be
created during the construction phase, while 2,500 people will be
employed as airport staff. Thirty major projects with a total budget
of 500 million euros are currently under scheduled for Crete.
[02] BoG Gov. on SE European banks
Greek banks are in a position to deal with the impact from the
international economic crisis hitting southeast European markets, as
they are less exposed to the region compared with other West European
financial institutions, while they enjoy strong capital adequacy to
absorb increased bad debts, Bank of Greece Gov. George Provopoulos said
on Tuesday.
In an interview with Reuters, the Greek central banker said economic
activity was slowing down in Southeastern Europe.
"There is a significant slowdown and, of course, we monitor closely the
situation. The Bank of Greece has demanded that Greek banks maintained
high capital adequacy ratios (Tier 1) to deal with any possible
problems. In any case, Greece banks must be prudent and they are. Even
if the situation worsened there are many mounds," Provopoulos said.
Greek banks have expanded in the region but not so much as other
countries' banks, such as Austrian banks. Lending by Greek banks
totaled 55 billion euros, around 16-17 pct of Greek GDP, while the rate
for Austrian banks was around 70 pct, the central banker said, adding:
"This shows that the Greek banking system is not largely exposed to the
southeast European region". Provopoulos, however, stressed he was not
overly relaxed, saying the situation must be closely monitored.
"Temporary hardships should not change the long-term prospects of these
countries. Greek banks will continue to suppor these economies," the
central banker said, adding that he was not overly concerned with
non-performing loans. "Greek banks have a strong capital base to absorb
such shocks," he noted.
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