Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-07-31

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece expects positive report by troika experts

[02] Droutsas meets Serb President

[03] Retail sales index down

[01] Greece expects positive report by troika experts

The experts will present their first report to Greek Finance Minister George Papakonstantinou on Monday, while a progress report was expected to be drafted next week and to be sent to Brussels, Frankfurt and Washington for approving a second tranche of a loan agreement, worth 9.0 billion euros.

Speaking to reporters, after the meeting, a top Finance ministry official said the government informed the troika experts that execution of the state budget was progressing as scheduled and the any risks have been identified. The next steps of reforms in the Greek economy will focus on restructuring the regional and municipal landscape in the country (Kallikratis project), restructuring Hellenic Railways Organisation and deregulating so-called "closed" professions. The official said that the government would present a draft bill on deregulation of closed professions and noted that the implementation of the memorandum needed an updating of commitments and not the addition of new issues.

[02] Droutsas meets Serb President

Droutsas briefed the Serb president on an EU General Affairs meeting earlier this week where the issue was examined in light of an International Court of Justice advisory opinion as regards the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. The Greek minister underlined the "need for initiating a political process that would lead to the finding of a solution through a compromise."

He also noted the need for coordinated actions between Belgrade and Brussels, adding that "Greece's interventions to that direction will be determining".

[03] Retail sales index down

The statistics service, in a report, attributed this development to a 19.6 pct drop in the volume of sales in clothing-footwear, a 14.8 pct decline in department stores, a 14.6 pct fall in fuel and lubricants, a 10.4 pct decline in furniture-electrical appliances, a 7.8 pct fall in pharmaceutical-cosmetics and a 3.9 pct decline in food stores.

The turnover index (current prices) eased 1.2 pct in May, after a decline of 13.9 pct recorded in May 2009.

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