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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Greece to fall deeper into recession this year

Rolling coverage of the Greek debt crisis, the world economy and the financial markets, after Athens takes another step towards a third bailoutLatest: Greece to shrink by 2.5% this yearStock markets rise after Greek voteSlovakia gives muted welcomeIntroduction: Athens closer to third bailoutFull story: Greek parliament votes yesHere’s how the action unfolded overnight 12.12pm BST A third bailout deal won’t prevent Greece plunging into a deep recession year, a leading Greek thinktank has warned.The Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) has abandoned its prediction from April that Greek GDP would rise by 1% this year, given the turmoil in the economy since capital controls were imposed.“The recent turbulence in the banking system and its impact on its capital adequacy along with the wait for the outcome of negotiations for a new programme would be the main cause for a suspension of the overwhelming majority of business investment in the second half of 2015.” 11.54am BST 11.26am BST Over in Athens, talk of divergence in Syriza will be topping discussions between prime minister Alexis Tsipras and House speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou this lunchtime. Tsipras meets with speaker of parliament Constantopoulou - http://t.co/uUrhdSZJvY pic.twitter.com/d1ZFaHHyzE 11.10am BST Greece’s stock market workers face a longer wait before they can do any actual trading.The Athens exchange shut down when capital controls were introduced at the end of June, and officials say it won’t reopen this week.Greece to decide next week when Athens stock exchange will reopen. It's been closed for 4 weeks after capital controls imposed. @BBCNews 11.00am BST Our friends at the Financial Times may be about to change hands.The wait will soon be over... PEARSON SAID TO IMMINENTLY ANNOUNCE SALE OF FT: REUTERSI, for one, welcome our new global digital news company overlords. https://t.co/UGK29euu6E 10.51am BST Over in Athens, parliamentary speaker Zoe Constantopoulou has arrived for talks with prime minister Alexis Tsipras.PM #Tsipras meets with House Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou at Maximos Mansion #Greece 10.25am BST The big question at last night’s vote was whether Alexis Tsipras would suffer fresh defections, which would have weakened his grip on power.In the event, he emerged unbowed, with three fewer rebels than a week ago.Spreadsheet showing all no/abstaining/absent #Syriza MPs in last two parliamentary votes https://t.co/eWNHB7Dadn pic.twitter.com/fhS3Es5tVM 10.15am BST The Athens News Agency has rounded up some of the headlines in today’s papers: 9.58am BST Today’s Spanish jobs data shows that youth unemployment has hit a three and a half-year low, and is finally below 50% again:Spain's youth unemployment rate dips to 49.2% in Q2, below 50% for the first time since Q4 2011 http://t.co/4KOdeTsteR 9.55am BST Greece’s economic plight is driving more and more of its young people to seek jobs overseas, making it even harder to return to sustainable growth.Data provided by U.K. jobs site CV-library.co.uk shows that visits to its website from Greek workers last week more than doubled from a year ago and that traffic from Greece has hit an all-time high.Based on weekly growth rates, CV-library expects the overall number of Greek workers searching its site for U.K.-based employment to double from June to July. #Greece job seekers flock to UK web sites http://t.co/OUF7faWanD @andretartar pic.twitter.com/G6KZPOC2f9 9.40am BST Britain’s consumers reined in their spending a little last month, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.Retail sales volumes dropped by 0.2% compared to May, a weaker performance than expected (economists had pencilled in a 0.3% rise).Falls were reported by predominantly food stores, other stores, household goods stores and petrol stations. A hiccup for the UK! Compared with May 2015, the quantity bought in the retail industry was estimated to have decreased by 0.2%. #GBPOops UK retail sales - June 9.21am BST Encouraging news from Spain this morning. The unemployment rate has fallen to 22.4% in the second quarter of this year, down from 23.8% in January-March.That certainly doesn’t resolve Spain’s jobs crisis (the worst in the eurozone after Greece). But it does suggest that recent growth is finally feeding into the labour market. First analyst reaction after Spain unemployment rate fell at record pace, to 22.4% in 2Q: "avalanche of new jobs" should put Rajoy at ease 9.16am BST The flaws in Greece’s bailout deal are well-documented -- too many recessionary measures, unrealistic targets, a frankly unconvincing and provocative plan to privatise €50bn of state assets.....And no guarantee of really effective debt relief at the end, although it will at least be discussed.Much is missing in the €-area, but not Parliament support: #Greek Parliament 230 yes, 63 no, #Bundestag 439 yes, 119 no 40 abstentions. 9.05am BST Europe’s stock markets are all up this morning, as traders welcome the news that Greece can now begin formal negotiations with creditors over a third bailout.Here’s the situation: Greece and its creditors now have to utilise the co-operative momentum (slash Greek capitulation) that has fuelled this latest wave of breakthroughs in order to try and create a more long-term solution to this saga.Whilst this still may prove to be a too tall an order, the relief of the Greek vote success, which was never really in doubt but still provides some much needed breathing room, boosted the DAX and CAC after the bell, with both looking much healthier than they did on Wednesday. 9.02am BST It could be a busy day for central banks too - with South Africa expected to raise interest rates, and Turkey expected to sit tight, according to informed City types:SA and Turkish Central Banks today. proper markets with proper decisions (+25 and flat expected) 8.54am BST An autumn of electoral activity looms, even if Alexis Tsipras holds his coalition together:Looking to be busy autumn of elections in Europe: Catalonia (27 Sept) & Spain (end of Nov?), Portugal (4 Oct), Poland (25 Oct) & poss Greece 8.49am BST French bank BNP Paribas has also cautioned against assuming that the Greek crisis is now on the back burner.Analyst Andrew MacFarlane told clients this morning:Greece approved the second set of measures demanded by creditors this morning; formal negotiations on a new bailout programme can now begin, although risks remain...including differences between the IMF and European creditors on debt relief as well as concerns over whether the Greek Government will be able to implement the socially unpopular deal. 8.34am BST Slovakia’s finance minister has welcomed the Greek vote, but warned Athens that it actually has to implement these economic reforms:The Greek parliament vote is another step in the needed direction. We still have a long way to go #eurozone #Greece #ECB #IMFThe tricky part - called implementation - comes now. The Baltics, #Ireland, #Portugal, #Spain and #Slovakia showed it can be doneThe introduced hike in the value added tax (VAT) is a painful measure, but means quick and instant budget revenue #Greece #eurozone #reforms#Greece, like #Slovakia, needs to focus on the effectiveness of the tax collection and the fight against tax fraud, #tax avoidance 8.27am BST Italy’s central bank chief has warned that Greece’s debt problems can’t be solved simply by extending its existing loans.Reuters has the story:Extending Greece’s debt repayments would not be enough to resolve the country’s problems, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said in an interview with an Italian newspaper on Thursday.Visco told daily Il Foglio that the issue of Greek debt needed to be dealt with “even by lengthening further its maturities, but it is clear that this will not be enough to overcome the country’s problems. 8.05am BST At around 4am Athens time, the vote came too late for today’s Greek newspapers. So they focus on the splits within the Syriza party.Divorce, battle, rift: 3 newspapers headline the split within leading SYRIZA after vote #Greece pic.twitter.com/bimDOR6bwE 7.51am BST European stock markets are expected to rise this morning, following the Greek vote:Our European opening calls: $FTSE 6700 up 32 $DAX 11568 up 48 $CAC 5102 up 20 $IBEX 11551 up 67 $MIB 23793 up 111 7.48am BST Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the Greek debt crisis, and other events across the world economy, the financial markets and business.There’s a touch of relief in the eurozone this morning, after the Athens parliament voted by a wide margin to accept a programme of economic reforms demanded by creditors.Greek Parliament approves second tranche of measures despite 36 no votes in #Syriza -@yanisvaroufakis surprisingly supports #Tsipras #vouliGreek parliament approves bailout reform package - as it happened http://t.co/qs5iiGi4Ju pic.twitter.com/64IhO9LCtsThe Greek side had been under pressure to strike an agreement quickly so that funds from the new loan could be released to repay €3.2bn due to the European Central Bank on August 20.But implementing the new agreement could be delayed, to the creditors’ dismay, if Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, decides to call a snap general election. 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