Crisis crushes Greek purchasing power
Eight in 10 Greek households have drastically cut back on their expenses, even trimming their budget for food, according to the results of a survey carried out by the market research firm Focus Bari between September 2010 and March 2011.
As expected, the repercussions of the country?s debt crisis have affected medium- and low-income households the most with individuals and families living in the provinces harder hit than those in large cities overall.
In a related development, statistics released by the European Commission?s statistics service indicated that the average income of Greeks in 2010 dropped to the level it had been at in 2002. In 2009 the per capita income of Greeks was 94 percent of the average of their European Union counterparts, dropping to 89 percent last year. In 2002, per capita income for Greeks was 90 percent of the EU average.
