Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-09-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Samaras: Unemployment the most cruel enemy of society

[02] Greek PMI rose to 50.1 points in August‏

[01] PM Samaras: Unemployment the most cruel enemy of society

Samaras made clear that it (unemployment) should not be treated with wishful thinking and stated his determination for government action as the country is entering a recovery process.

"For the first time, the GDP is seen rising after 24 quarters while 770,000 new jobs are expected to have been added by 2020," Samaras stressed.

The prime minister called on the members of the governing council of employment to heed their recommendations in the next meeting, to be held in October, and to come up with a single proposal.

On his part, Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis referred to the setting up of a special business register for consistent businesses. These businesses will have benefits such as less audits and possible reduced contributions.

[02] Greek PMI rose to 50.1 points in August‏

A new rise of production in the manufacturing sector was one of the factors behind this increase in the PMI index. The index has fallen in July for the first time in nine-months, but in August production rose steadily, with production of goods and investment goods rising in the month, while production of consumer goods remained unchanged.

New orders in Greek factors rose in August, ending a two-month period of decline, while new export orders rose slightly in August. However, this increase in production and new orders failed to create new job positions, with workforce in manufacturing companies falling for the third successive month. Pending works fell again in August, with the strongest rate since July 2013.

Inventories fell to the lowest levels in the last four months, while rising raw material prices pushed costs higher in August. On the other hand, factory prices continued falling in the month as companies cut prices to remain competitive on an international level.

The PMI index -compiled by Markit- measures business activity in the manufacturing sector. Reading above 50 indicate a growing sector while readings below 50 a shrinking sector.

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