Already reeling from big falls in sales during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period, the news for Greek retailers was even bleaker with the news that their sales in November of 2012 dropped off a cliff, falling 16.9% percent, heightening the likelihood that many more will go out of business this year.
The data came from the Hellenic Statistical Authority, (ELSAT) which showed consumer confidence was deader than a store mannequin with austerity-weary Greeks keeping their wallets in their pockets as the government readies to lower the boom with more pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions.
Some 68,000 stores have closed in the nearly three years since the government began imposing harsh conditions on the order of international lenders putting up rescue loans to keep the economy from collapsing. The country is now in a sixth year of a deep recession with no signs it is going to relent despite rosy predictions from the government a recovery will begin later this year.
The figures, which are adjusted for inflation and don’t include volatile fuel sales, were the same as October’s downwardly revised 16.9% decline, continuing a deteriorating trend seen since the summer of 2011. Anxious Greeks have even cut back spending on basic essentials so much that supermarkets, which were reluctant to lower prices during the economic crisis, have begun making big offers.
The figures showed that spending on items such as furniture, electrical and household goods fell by 29.1% from a year earlier, as well as a 21.2% decline in clothing and footwear, while even spending at supermarkets shrunk by 13.3%. All categories of spending were down from year-earlier levels in November. Taking into account automotive fuel sales, the volume of retail trade fell 16.8% in November after falling 18.1% a month earlier, the statistics office said.
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