The Greek economy is in ongoing recession with forecasts looking ominous for the sustainability of businesses, consumption and unemployment, a report says.
According to a study by the Institute of Small Business of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (GSEVEE) in cooperation with MARC SA, the last quarter of 2016 will see thousands of businesses closing and thousands of workers joining the unemployed line.
Supermarkets are seeing Greek consumers buying 5% less staples overall, indicative of reduced spending power. In the January-July period, sales of basic goods dropped significantly.
Specifically, olive oil sales dropped 10%, pasta 10%, dairy products 8%, fruits-vegetables 6%, sliced bread 5%, fish 5%, detergents 5%, meat 4%, soap-shampoo 3%. On average, consumption of staples decreased 5% overall.
In addition, retail sales in the July-August sales period dropped 9.7% during the same period last year.
Discretionary income has dropped significantly as Greek households have 235 billion euros in outstanding debts to the state, banks and utility companies.
Business turnover and investments are expected to drop 58% in the second half of 2016. At the same time, 98% of businesses will not make any kind of investment until the end of the year.
At the same time, 42% of business owners believe that they might be forced to shut down by the end of the year. At the same time, 28% of businesses slashed employee wages, while 28.1% intend to reduce wages or work hours in the second half of 2016.
Regarding small businesses, 70,000 are in arrears and 45,000 of small businesses face foreclosure or freezing of assets.
Finally, exports dropped 8.1% in the first half of 2016, reaching the low of 2012.
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