(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, AUGUST 8 - Greek consumer spending is
expected to fall to 2004 levels if the government's plan for
budget savings of 11.5 billion over the next two years is
implemented, daily Kathimerini reports quoting figures from
Commerce and Services Institute of the National Confederation of
Greek Commerce (INEMY-ESEE). According to Eurostat calculations
which do not take into account the planned savings, final
consumption spending is projected to fall to 206,465 million
units of the Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) in 2013 from
207,914 million PPS units this year. INEMY-ESEE has calculated
that if the savings are implemented, final consumption will fall
to 196,565 million PPS units -- which is slightly above the 2004
level -- if not more. The fall will amount to 16.6% in PPS terms
since 2008. In no other country of the eurozone is consumer
spending projected to fall in 2013, including those of the
so-called periphery hit by the economic crisis. "We all feel
exhausted and every new measure imposed on a society that has no
more to give is truly painful. The spending cut measures will be
wrong," said ESEE Chairman Vassilis Korkidis. (ANSAmed).
