Stoil Topalov

The Athenian stock exchange went through another stormy week and closed with a fall of 3.1% or 2162.65 points. In the US, Dow Jones managed to close the week with an increase of 1.2% and 8438.4 points. The London stock exchange was most affected, because it suffered a fall of 2.5%, which took it to 4234.6 points. This week the thrill came from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, which landed some cash to the respective economies, showing that the risks and dangers have still not passed.

The Greek government sacrificed the economic growth of 1.1% at the expense of a smaller budget deficit – it announced new taxes, valued to be ?1.9 billion. The new measures will mostly affect car owners and pre-paid mobile phone customers, because there will be a 14.2% increase in fuel prices (?150 to ?650 tax on cars and motorcycles of over 1300 cubic meters) and a tax increase of 12% for pre-paid phone cards. It is expected that soon a new tax will be applied to lottery winners.

According to the National Bank of Greece, the revenue from tourists for the first trimester of 2009 has fallen with about 11%, compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the percentage of international incoming flights has decreased with 9.6%. According to the World Tourism Organization, other popular tourist destinations in Europe, like Croatia and Malta, have registered a tourism decrease of 18%-20% and the Spanish statistical agency reports of a tourism fall of 11.8% in the Mediterranean country.