ATHENS — The vast majority of top executives in the supermarket and FMCG sectors expect that the impact of the pandemic crisis will last at least until the end of 2021, while it will continue to affect the economy in the summer of 2022, IELKA (the Research Institute for Retail Consumer Goods) said in a survey released on Monday.

The survey, conducted in the period February 12-23 on a sample of 180 top executives, showed that 85 pct believed that the emergency conditions with Covid-19 will last at least until the end of 2021, 97 pct believed that the market and the economy will continue to be affected until the end of 2021 and 70 pct at least until the summer of 2022. Eighty-five pct said that citizens felt fatigue from extended restrictive measures, along with 51 pct of workers in the sector. Two out of three executives said that changes in restrictive measures were too frequent, while only 22 pct believed that the cost of the measures was higher than the health benefit. The duration and intensity of the pandemic is also affecting the financial condition of enterprises, with 65 pct reporting an increase of operating costs by 1-5 pct, 23 pct reporting an increase of more than 5.0 pct and 12 pct reporting no increase in operating costs. Supermarket executives said that the additional cost was new hirings.