Agrotiki Bank in a rush, followed by real estate

The race is on and the government must ratify the agreed monumental changes proposed by the Troika, in less than 40 working days (excluding Sundays and bank holidays until mid February).  
 
Meetings after meetings are called at the ministry while the Troika auditors have barely returned to Washington and Brussels.   
 
Top priority is the consolidation plan for Agrotiki Bank. According to sources, after the publication of its financial results, the Bank will announce its move to increase of its share capital of 1 billion Euro.  
 
The ministry will then announce its own intention to participate in the increase by two thirds, while the remainder will possibly be covered by the Deposits and Loans Fund (though other scenarios are also brewing).  
 
Agrotiki, however, according to the plan, will then buy out the state’s participation, which will be re-entered in the state’s repository.  
 
At the same time, plans are being made to proceed with the privatization and development of public real estate, aiming to collect 1 billion this year and another 6 billion by 2014.  
 

Furthermore, the ministry is trying to save as much as possible, practically in the last month of the year, and conclude 2010 without any more unpleasant surprises, staying closer to the objectives presented by the government to the IMF auditors, which translates into more tax audits.  
 
Already, however, and until last October, the Financial and Economic Crime Unit’s (S.D.O.E) fines for non-issued VAT and taxes were being issued in a deluge and more than doubled from 1,5 bil euro since last year to 3,5. In 65,000 audits, 18,000 offenders were caught with an average of 65 violations.   
 
In the following days, the ministry will issue a new set of tax measures, but also announce the annulment of approximately 100 tax offices around the country.  
 
At the same time they are looking for the dates when the Parliament legislates the opening up of closed professions, changes in labor issues, the recovery plan for urban transport and more. After the holidays, decisions will be made in relation to the 2011 salaries in the public sector, and also the changes in Government owned corporations (DEKO) and banks, before the next visit of the Troika auditors.