A simple walk around an open-air market is enough to see the steep upwards trajectory of prices, with watermelon going for 1 euro/kg, tomatoes for €2.50/kg and green beans for €5/kg.
The existing arrangements for the repayment of obligations in installments are proving to be ineffective for a large portion of small and medium-sized enterprises.
With the Thessaly Plain accounting for nearly 15% of the country’s agricultural land, covering more than 400,000 hectares, the specter of shortages and price hikes looms large in the wake of the massive floods that struck central Greece with the passage of storm Daniel last week.
Over one in five small and medium-sized enterprises plans to raise their prices of goods or services in the second half of 2023, showing that inflationary pressures will continue for some time to come.
Corporate profits accounted for 50% of Greece’s GDP price deflator in the first quarter of 2023, a percentage that is the third highest among EU member-countries, according to the Greek market watchdog.
Only a decline in consumption, which could lead to an economic recession and signal the entry of the Greek economy into a new vicious cycle, can now lead to a reduction in food prices.
Greece’s Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) dropped slightly in July, from 3.5% to 3.4%, preliminary data from the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat showed Thursday.
The European Central Bank’s latest Economic Bulletin, published Thursday, begins thus: “Inflation continues to decline but is still expected to remain too high for too long.”
Eager to fight persistent inflation, which spiked in July, the government wants to impose profit restriction on more consumer goods, this time focusing on water heaters and boilers.