Bank of Greece Deputy Governor Nicholas Garganas said in a newspaper interview on Dec 28 that Greece should continue its tight fiscal and wage policy to help bring down inflation. "The government must hold to its tight fiscal policy," Garganas told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, noting that this year's budget deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product would be transformed into a surplus of the same size in 2001.

Greece will officially become the 12th member of monetary union on