ATHENS – Greek households remain pessimistic over 2023 mainly because of the consequences of price increases, the Institute for small and medium sized enterprises of GSEBEE said on Wednesday.

The survey showed that households were pessimistic over the future finances, negatively affected by price increases, with a 56.7% of respondents saying they had to cut spending on basic needs (very), another 28.4% said they cut spending (a little) and a 14.8% responded negatively.

GSEVEE said government measures to address the impact of price increases on household incomes were seemingly not enough. A 51.9% of households expect their finances to deteriorate in 2023, a trend recorded for the first time since 2018.

Beyond the impact of the high inflation rate, Greek households cited the deteriorating adequacy of their incomes as another negative factor. More specifically, a 52.4% of respondents said their monthly income covered 18 days (on average), a development related with price increases in electricity and food. More than 60% of households said a government measure to freeze prices on a basket of consumer goods has not helped in pushing prices down and a 51.1% said the most efficient measure was wage and pension increases.