Greek sentiment sinks, among Europe’s lowest
Despite consumers appearing less pessimistic, Greek economic sentiment worsened for the 11th straight month in January, sinking to its lowest level since 1990. The Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) said yesterday its economic climate index fell to 55.4 from 58.2 points in December. The month-on-month deterioration tracked that seen in the overall eurozone economy. Greece’s economic climate reading was the second lowest in Europe in January, the worst being that of Hungary, at 45.5 points. ‘A slowdown in the downtrend may be signaling the completion of the downward orbit as the margins for the further worsening of the relevant indices are small,’ IOBE said. Consumer confidence showed a slight improvement in January to levels last seen in the summer of 2008, as the worries over unemployment evened out.
