Greek Daily News 31/07/2024

ECONOMY

-Greece’s total assessed tax income for this year is expected to surpass 4 billion euros, marking an increase from the 3.8 billion euros recorded in 2023, To Vima reported.

-Negative inflation was recorded in supermarkets across Greece in July, the third month in a row, according to a survey conducted by the Research Institute of Retail Consumer Goods (IELKA) in large supermarket chains.

BUSINESS

-Greek utility PPC is stepping up its expansion in Romania, after acquiring Enel’s entire portfolio in the Balkan country last year. PPC’s green energy arm PPC Renewables announced the start of the construction phase of a new farm in Deleni in Vaslui county, eastern Romania, with an installed capacity of 140 MW.

-According to the results of a survey conducted by KEEE Research Institute in collaboration with Palmos Analysis on a sample of 5,076 businesses, 37% of them admit to having job vacancies. The sectors with the highest percentages of companies declaring job vacancies are construction (55%), manufacturing (50%), accommodation and restaurants (48%).

SHIPPING

The “Hellenic Shipping Association of Hamburg” (ENSA), a non-profit association under German law, with 67 founding members, was established in Hamburg, Germany, Naftemporiki reported.

REAL ESTATE

-Faster property sales are expected via the new cadastre, Kathimerini reported. The main goals of the new cadastre bill are to complete the cadastre by 2025, incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into the legal review of contracts and streamline real estate transfer procedures.

-In H1 2024, the sales prices of luxury homes in Athens saw the fourth largest increase (3.5%) among 30 cities worldwide, according to a survey by Savills real estate consultancy. The rental prices of luxury homes in the Greek capital increased by 4.6%.

-In Q2 2024, a decrease of 21.2% was observed in the number of transactions in the residential market (houses and apartments) on an annual basis, while a fall of 14.1% was also noted based on the value of the transactions, data from the Register of Transfer Values at the General Secretariat of Information Systems of the Ministry of Finance showed.

TECHNOLOGY

Google has expanded its AI-based fire alert tool to 15 new countries across Europe and Africa, including Greece. This advanced tool provides detailed fire boundary monitoring via Google Search, Maps, and push notifications.

TOURISM

-Greece, along with Spain, leads the list of European countries with the most significant increases in inbound spending (travel receipts) between April and June 2024, compared to 2019, according to the latest edition of the “European Tourism Trends & Prospects” quarterly report by the European Travel Commission (ETC).

-Seven out of 10 Greeks will spend their holidays in Greece this year, 15 percent will travel across Europe, while only 2 percent will travel outside Europe, according a travel report by London-headquartered Revolut, a global neobank and financial technology company. Thirteen percent of Greek respondents do not plan any vacation this year.