As festive budget shrinks food is a priority
Greeks intend to spend the little money they have set aside for this festive season on food and entertainment, and not so much on presents, according to an annual survey by Deloitte.
It is therefore hardly surprising – but quite revealing of the standard of living of a large part of Greek society – that the most desirable gift for the majority of Greeks is not a piece of jewelry or an electronic gadget, but food and drink, be that in the form of a bottle of whiskey or supermarket vouchers.
The survey, also conducted in eight other countries, showed that consumers in Greece intend to spend an average of 439 euros per household this Christmas. Last year they spent an average of 456 euros (this is the actual expenditure and not that planned). The average budget across the nine countries surveyed is 517 euros for this year, against 524 euros spent last year.
Out of those 439 euros, Greek consumers intend to spend 156 euros on food, 128 on presents, 69 on entertainment and 86 on traveling. In Greece food accounts for 35 percent of the Christmas budget, against an average of 29 percent in the other countries surveyed (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain).
Spending on gifts will account for 29 percent of this year’s festive expenditure, against an average of 40 percent in the other countries. In fact, 23 percent of Greeks responded they will buy no presents this year, up from 19 percent in 2015, while in the other countries this rate stands at just 10 percent (from 8 percent last year).
