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Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-09-23
CONTENTS
[01] More than 500mln euros in purchases from neighbour states
[02] Hotel prices down 7 percent in August
[03] Gov't: Surcharge on property a permament tax measure
[01] More than 500mln euros in purchases from neighbour states
AMNA / More than 1,500 enterprises in the manufacturing and services
sectors have relocated to neighboring countries in the last 12 months,
while the number of Greeks crossing the borders for shopping surpass
600,000 on a monthly basis and this number rises steadily, an announcement
by the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE) said on Thursday.
The group noted that this trend was causing an uncontrollable bleeding
to the Greek market. The Confederation said that one in four enterprises
based near the country’s borders have closed down, (AMNA) while several
businessmen were considering their relocation abroad. ESEE stressed that
a strict austerity policy implemented in Greece not only it does not
offer fiscal results but at the same time it was leading the productive
middle class to destruction.
ESEE noted that cross-border illegal trade and smuggling were strongly
hitting the northern Greece and border regions of Macedonia, Thrace, the
northern Aegean and the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean,
with more than 500 million euros of Greek capital spent in Bulgaria,
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) and Turkey for the
purchase of consumer goods annually. These purchases focuses on clothing,
footwear, cigarettes, petrol, dental services and car services, while
many people were also buying their weekly food supplies from neighboring
countries. AMNA
[02] Hotel prices down 7 percent in August
AMNA / Hotel prices in Greece fell in August, as hotel enterprises sought
to respond to intensified competition in the market, a report by Trivago -
a hotel price website - stated on Friday.
Trivago said the price of a double-bed room in a Greek hotel cost an
average (AMNA) 112 euros in August, down 7.0 pct compared with the same
period in 2010.
The biggest price declines were recorded in Mykonos (-51 pct to 140
euros), Naxos (-43 pct to 62 euros), Skopelos (-40 pct to 71 euros) and
Perissa (Santorini) (-39 pct to 58 euros). On the other hand, Thessaloniki
(+23 pct to 102 euros), Athens (+15 pct to 105 euros) and Kalambaka (+13
pct to 87 euros), recorded the biggest percentage increases in the month.
The cost of an overnight stay in a hotel room in Europe cost an average
136 euros in August, while the cost in a hotel room in Istanbul was 146
euros (up 36 pct from August 2010). AMNA
[03] Gov't: Surcharge on property a permament tax measure
AMNA / Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Thursday announced in
parliament that an amendment will allow extension of an extraordinary
surtax on real estate via the new taxation system beyond the initial two
years envisaged for the measure.announced that the amendment will also
make the long-term unemployed exempt from the tax, with certain provisos
relating to income and property values. The tax will also be levied in
2012, after which it will be incorporated into the national tax system,
following a re-examination of the taxation rates.
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