Bailout inspectors postponed a trip to Athens next week, as government officials acknowledged key issues remained unresolved in negotiations needed for future rescue loan payouts.
Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Friday that inspectors from the “troika” of the EU, European Central Bank and IMF would likely travel to Greece the following week.
“We still have not reached an agreement today on several issues... The aim is to have this concluded by the end of the year,” he said.
Greece and rescue lenders remain at odds over austerity measures needed to cover a gap in next year’s budget, and the course of various long-term reforms including mass public sector job cuts.
The government is also resisting troika pressure to lift blanket protection measures for distressed home loans.
“The government has made a commitment that the homes of the poor or people in economic difficulty will not be endangered,” Development Deputy Minister Athanasios Skordas told private Mega television.
“Clearly there is no agreement on this issue. I think everyone understands that. The [troika] has moved some distance from their initial and absolute position, but not as far as we would like,” he added.
Meanwhile, state hospitals were operating with emergency staff on Friday as doctors and staff held a 24-hour strike against planned health cuts under the country’s harsh austerity program.
Strikers held a protest outside the
Greek Health Ministry building in central Athens, and about 2,500 people marched peacefully to Parliament.
Demonstrators included doctors from the state primary health care system — who have extended a strike launched on Tuesday until Dec. 9 — as well as residents of Aegean Sea islands who say reforms will deplete local health services.
Health unions are angry at the conservative-led government’s plans to suspend and reallocate staff as part of its drive to reform the public sector and reduce the budget deficit.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
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