Greece to reform petrol stations to curb deficit

ATHENS, April 23 (Reuters) - Greece plans to fight tax evasion and ease tourist travel through reform of its petrol stations, officials said on Thursday, in the latest attempt to bring its large deficit in line with EU rules.

As of Jan. 1, 2010, petrol station owners will be obliged to operate cash registers with automatic receipts.

"This system can track tax evasion," Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis told a news conference.

Separately, petrol stations will soon be allowed to install 24-hour automatic fuel vending machines. "This measure is absolutely necessary, it has to be implemented, both for Greeks and for tourists," Hatzidakis said.

After years of robust growth, Greece, which makes up about 2.5 percent of the eurozone economy, is at risk of stalling or even sliding into its first recession since 1993 as the global downturn hits key sectors like tourism and shipping.

Greece attracts about 15 million tourists a year, making it one of the world's biggest tourism destinations.

There is so far no 24-hour automatic fuel vending machine in the country, making it hard for tourists to fill up their tanks at night.

Independent petrol station owners, who account for the bulk of business in Greece, have staged strikes to oppose similar plans. They argue this would increase their costs and benefit big petrol station chains.

The government has said there is significant tax evasion in Greece's retail fuel market.

Greece's conservative government, struggling with the euro zone's second highest deficit, pledged on Wednesday to take any action required to reduce the deficit from 5 percent of GDP in 2008 to below a European Union limit of 3 percent next year.

The Greek economy is expected to shrink in 2009 and 2010 after 15 consecutive years of growth, the IMF said on Wednesday, partly because of falling tourist arrivals. (Reporting by Harry Papachristou; editing by Ingrid Melander and Farah Master)