Stoil Topalov

The Eurozone’s aging population is expected to cause severe problems and hinder the overall recovery from the economic crisis. The conclusion was issued in a report by the Economic Policy Committee of the EU. According to the report, EU citizens within working age of 15 to 64 will decrease by 15 % by 2060, which means that a third of the EU’s population will be aged over 64. The countries expected to have serious problems with social expenses are Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia.

According to research prepared by the Athens University, the real estate market is also not expected to grow, at least within the next one or two years. Over 60 per cent of the interviewed experts are of the opinion that the property market crisis will last for three more years. However, the majority believe that prices will stay unchanged during the period, despite the slump in sales of around 50 to 60 per cent, compared to the same time last year.

The rest of the economic news – the US stock markets had a strong week, with Dow Jones closing up 7 % at 8743.9 points. Standard and Poor’s 500 also recorded an increase with 6.8%, closing at 940.15 points. Although the American stock markets had lost an average value of 7% in the past four weeks, the positive second quarter financial results for companies like Goldman Sachs, Intel, Google, Nokia and General Electric stimulated the quick growth of this week. The Athens Stock Exchange was in line – rising with 6.5 % to 2230.4 points.

Petrol price has seen a decrease with around 30 cents this week, closing at $61.79 – just an year after the price hit the record $147.27. The decrease is explained by the drop in the world’s manufacturing production and the increased interest in alternative sources of energy. People at OPEC are hoping that economic recovery will increase demand and are hence expecting new price surges in 2010.