Greece's ship owners are obliged to pay a one-off "social responsibility" levy imposed on them under the first Greek bailout programme in 2010, according to a Council of State ruling that obliged a shipping firm to pay the sum of 808,942 euros.
Greece's supreme administrative court reversed a lower court ruling cancelling the shipping company's debt to the Piraeus tax office for ships as contrary to the law. The levy was imposed in legislation passed in 2010 as part of the EU-IMF support programme for Greece. Among others, the CoS justices noted that emergency levies had been imposed on the shipping sector in the past, in other legislation passed in response to emergency and extremely pressing fiscal needs, such as in 1974 after the war in Cyprus, in 1978 after an earthquake in Thessaloniki and in 1985 as part of a programme to stabilise the economy.
Greek banks' deposits fell to 121.4 billion euros in December 2016, from 124.8 billion euros in November, the Bank of Greece said on Friday. The central bank, in a report, however, noted that these figures were not fully comparable since the December figures for private deposits did not include deposits held in the Consignment Deposits and Loan Fund by the private sector (4.2 billion) and the General Government sector (2.9 billion). Moreover, as of December 2016 the deposits of the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund (2.1 billion) are not included in the deposits of the private sector, but in the deposits of the General Government (see also the above ELSTAT announcement).
In December 2016, the annual growth rate of total credit extended to the domestic private sector stood at -1.5%, from -1.3% in the previous month. The monthly net flow of total credit to the domestic private sector was negative at 29 million euros, compared with a positive net flow of 62 million euros in the previous month. In December 2016, the monthly net flow of credit to corporations was positive at 143 million euros, compared with a positive net flow of 283 million in the previous month, while the annual growth rate of credit stood at -0.1%, from 0.2% in the previous month. In particular, the annual growth rate of credit to non-financial corporations was 0.0%, from 0.5% in the previous month and the monthlynet flow of credit to non-financial corporations was negative at 102 million euros, against a positive net flow of 226 million in the previous month. The annual growth rate of credit to insurance corporations and other financial intermediaries stood at -0.2% in December 2016, from -4.3% in the previous month and the monthly net flow of credit was positive at 245 million euros, compared with a positive net flow of 57 million in the previous month.
In December 2016, the monthly net flow of credit to individuals and private non-profit institutions was negative at 157 million euros, compared with a negative net flow of 208 million in the previous month and its annual growth rate stood at -2.8%, unchanged against the previous month.