Importers told to pay up in advance
In the last 10 days foreign suppliers have again started asking for the full cost of commodities exported to Greece to be paid in advance by their local representatives, in a picture reminiscent of the state of external trade from late 2011 to the 2012 elections.
The head of the association of trade representatives and distributors of Athens (SEADA), Ioannis Papageorgakis, told Kathimerini that suppliers in Italy, Germany, Belgium and Denmark are demanding the full payment for goods in a lump sum. Suppliers are still accepting bank letters of guarantee but it is widely known that Greek banks’ funding of commerce has been limited.
While the phenomenon has not grown to the extent observed in 2011-12, it is still generating problems both in commodity imports for final consumption and in importing raw materials, thereby threatening local production.
