Stoil Topalov

It is expected that in the following two weeks the Greek government will announce new measures for collecting funds for the state treasury. In few days the minister of economy Yannis Papathanasiou will announce a tax increase of petrol, alcohol and pre-paid mobile phones. Changes are expected also in fines for not issuing receipts and the check-ups are more frequent. The goal of all those measures is the increase of the state tax income.

The European Commission already scheduled a date for the second critical analysis of the Greek economy – October 2009. Until then, the government needs to show improvements in regulating the labor market and it needs to start incorporating insurance and retirement reforms. One of the reforms, approved by the European Commission and the Greek government refers to the decision of 500 000 workers, who will not receive a salary increase and bonuses. This is a proven strategy, which helped Ireland lower the budget deficit, which had reached 10% of the GDP.

The Athens Hotel Owners Union announced a reservations fall of 15.2% and income fall of 22.6%. This information was distributed by GBR Consulting, which also noted that the fall is influenced not only by the economic crisis but also by the recent riots and littering problems. But the problems are not only in Athens – airports around Greece are registering an 8% fall in arriving flights from abroad.

The stock exchanges continued their slow but sure upsurge. In the US the Dow Jones increased with 1.2% to 8799.3 points, which is the highest level from the end of January until now. S&P 500 also registered its highest levels for this year, after it closed with 945.9 points or a 1.5% increase this week. In London, the FTSE 100 closed on Friday with 4439.8 points and a 0.7% weekly increase. Last week the Athenian stock exchange closed with over 2400 points, which happened for the first time since November 2008. This week, the exchange closed with 2401.6 points or 1.4% increase.

Oil prices continued growing and reached $73 for barrel, which is an eight month record. According to the British chancellor of exchequer – Alistair Darling – if oil prices surpass $80, this will limit all possibilities of the world economy to overcome the crisis. The stipulated oil price in the British budget is $46 per barrel and according to Darling this is the same in most Western countries. The current price of $73 is very problematic and it exceeds the budget, which makes it hard to find the necessary finances, in order to stimulate the economy.