Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-07-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] We believe we will have positive signs at the Eurogroup

[02] Greek unemployment rate eased to 25.6 pct in April

[03] Athens Stock Exchange to remain closed until July 13

[01] We believe we will have positive signs at the Eurogroup

Speaking to private ANT1 TV, Sakellaridis said "We believe that we will have positive signs at the Eurogroup and that we proceed to an agreement" adding that if everything goes well maybe the EU Summit on Sunday will not be necessary.

Referring to the scenarios of a secret plan for the return to the drachma, Sakellaridis clarified that there is no such plan and that the government is trying to reach an agreement. "The reason we are at this point is the institutions' stance that demanded more and more. The recourse to the referendum was not useless" said the government's spokesman noting that it helped in the negotiations.

"The week before the referendum we had IMF's report that the Greek debt is not sustainable" he stated underlining that "it is extremely important the uncertainty to stop. If the debt issue is solved it will be very important for the Greek economy".

Asked if the government has thought what it would do in case something occurs at the last moment, Sakellaridis said "We are in deliberations with top officials, institutions and country leaders in order the way to open and to reach an agreement".

Concluding, Sakellaridis apologised to the citizens for the inconvenience and for the trouble with the banks and thanked them for their calmness and their sobriety

[02] Greek unemployment rate eased to 25.6 pct in April

The statistics service, in a report, said that the number of unemployed people totaled 1,216,870 in April, with the unemployment rate among young people remaining at very high levels (53.2 pct) and in the most productive age group of 25-34 years at 32.9 pct.

The report showed that unemployment grew in three out of seven decentralized regions in April. The number of unemployed people fell by 78,759 in April compared with the same month last year (a decline of 6.1 pct) and by 11,848 compared with March (a decline of 1.0 pct). The number of employed people totaled 3,543,651 in April, up 49,283 from April 2014 (+1.4 pct) and by 16,834 compared with March (+0.5 pct).

The economically non active population totaled 3,334,628 in April, down 21,089 from April 2014 and down 9,103 from March.

The unemployment rate among women was 29.8 pct in April, from 24.2 pct in April 2014, while among men the unemployment rate was 22.2 pct and 24.2 pct, respectively.

The unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group fell to 53.2 pct in April from 55.4 pct last year, in the 25-34 age group it fell to 32.9 pct from 35.4 pct, in the 35-44 age group it fell to 22 pct from 23.9 pct, in the 45-54 age group it rose to 21.2 pct from 20.4 pct, in the 55-64 age group it was unchanged at 17.8 pct and in the 65-74 age group it fell to 11.1 pct from 12.4 pct.

Epirus-Western Macedonia (26.4 pct from 28.5 pct) recorded the highest unemployment rate among the country's regions, followed by Thessaly-Central Greece (26.4 pct from 25.9 pct), Attica (26.4 pct from 28.6 pct), Peloponnese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands (26.1 pct from 25.9 pct), Macedonia-Thrace (25.8 pct from 28.2 pct), Crete (24.2 pct from 23.7 pct) and Aegean (21.6 pct from 23.4 pct).

[03] Athens Stock Exchange to remain closed until July 13

- The regulated market and the Multilateral Trading Facility of "EN.A" (Alternative Market) of the Athens Exchange will continue to remain closed.

- The Electronic Secondary Market "HDAT" for bonds, of the Bank of Greece will continue to remain closed.

- Redemption of mutual funds' units will continue to be suspended.

- The clearing of securities traded on the Greek market and the Multilateral Trading Facility "EN.A", effected by the ATHEXClear, will continue to be suspended and

- The cash settlement of securities traded on the Greek markets, effected by the Hellenic Central Securities Depository, will continue to be suspended.

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