Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-12-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[02] Greek National Tourism Organisation gets new chief

[03] Greek PM to visit US in January

[04] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks slump, dampened by markets abroad

[05] Weather Forecast: Rain, storms, snow on Friday

[06] Deadline for payment of 2002 road tax extended

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Indicative tourist buying rates

U.S. dollar 376.644

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 544.407

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 045.384

Swedish kroner 036.118

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 298.380

Swiss franc 229.476

Norwegian kroner 042.129

Cyprus pound 588.088

Canadian dollar 240.320

Australian dollar 196.058

[02] Greek National Tourism Organisation gets new chief

The Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) announced on Thursday that it had appointed Yiannis Patelis as its new president.

Patelis, who assumes his duties on Friday, is an economist and engineer with experience in financial and technical studies for the management and evaluation of European Union programmes, and in tourism studies, the GNTO said in a statement.

He has worked for the EU in evaluating the bloc's Mediterranean funding progammes; and for the GNTO as an adviser on managing the Community's Second Community Support Framework funds.

Patelis, who replaces Evgenios Yiannakopoulos, has also conducted tourism growth studies including golf and conference tourism. He is a member of AIEST, a world organisation of tourism experts.

[03] Greek PM to visit US in January

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis is scheduled to meet with his Dutch counterpart Wim Kok in The Hague on Wednesday afternoon, before travelling to Brussels the next day to participate at an European Union summit in Laeken on Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Greek government on Wednesday announced that Simitis would officially visit the United States in January.

According to a government spokesman in Athens, the exact dates for the visit and an agenda of talks will be determined via diplomatic channels.

[04] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks slump, dampened by markets abroad

The Athens bourse finished lower on Thursday with adverse sentiment in European markets spurring selling and lowering prices.

State-owned Public Power Corporation (PPC) lost 2.65 percent on its second day of trade after slumping 5.04 percent on its trading debut a day earlier.

The general share index shed 1.54 percent to end at 2,565.29 points. Turnover was 146.67 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 1.44 percent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 2.25 percent lower; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities 3.45 percent down.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 315 to 29 with 12 issues remaining unchanged.

[05] Weather Forecast: Rain, storms, snow on Friday

Rain and storms are forecast in most parts of the country on Friday with snow in the north, mainly in the morning. Winds variable, moderate to very strong. In the north, temperatures will range from -5C to 4C; on the rest of the mainland from 0C to 9C; and in the islands from 6C to 12C. Cloudy and showers in Athens with snow on high ground. Temperatures between 5C and 9C. Cloud, sleet and snow in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 0C to 4C.

[06] Deadline for payment of 2002 road tax extended

The deadline for paying the road tax on private cars and motorbikes for 2002 has been extended to December 21, the finance ministry announced on Thursday.

The extension was given due to problems that arose in banks providing the special stickers, but the stickers will only be available from tax offices from December 17, while they will be available in banks until the end of the original deadline, December 15.

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