Posted on 11/19/2012 10:17:57 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Greece's recession-hit businesses face "annihilation", a leading chamber of commerce has warned, as a fatal combination of falling sales and job cuts meant the country was in its worst economic shape for 14 years.
"Returning to 1984 purchasing power levels, 1998 employment levels and 1999 salary levels will not help Greece's economy in 2013," said Vassilis Korkidis, chairman of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (Esee).
The association, representing a sector which employs nearly 18pc of the Greek workforce, presented an annual study forecasting a further drop in sales and job cuts in an economy where the unemployment rate currently exceeds 25pc.
More than 40pc of limited liability companies and 70.6pc of general and limited partnerships expect a fall in sales, and one in three businesses in both categories expects to shed workers next year, the report showed.
"If this situation continues, the trader sector... will be threatened with annihilation," Mr Korkidis said.
"The recipe of successive (fiscal overhauls) appears to have failed," he said.
Greece's parliament earlier this month approved a new round of austerity worth €18.5bn that includes additional salary and pension cuts and other reforms to be implemented by 2016.
The measures have been prescribed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
That’s what happens when a nation finds itself with hardly a private sector after others stop lending to it. Warning to the US!
If you look at individual stories...most all small companies and shops...do cash-only transactions now. If you are a small restaurant and need a truckload of food for your kitchen....you have to show the cash before the delivery guy offers to bring the truck up. Stopping off at a bar on the way home? Doesn’t happen much anymore. If folks drink...they buy what they want and consume it at home, as cheaply as possible. Every single nickel and dime counts.
Well, at least they’re doing everything they possibly can to boost the vital tourism sector.
We won’t be far behind Greece now.
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