ATHENS – "Small and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs) are listening to the government promising them money, but they haven't received any money," main opposition SYRIZA sector chief for economic affairs, Nikos Pappas, said on Monday in an interview with public broadcaster ERT.

He noted that only 800,000 to 900,000 workers had received assistance of the 1.8 million workers initially announced, while only 50,000 companies had reached the final stage of applying for a returnable advance. Regarding state-guaranteed loans, he said that terrible things have been heard, "as the conditions set by banks exclude the majority of those who are interested and the money ends up with those who do not need it."

 He noted that a 10 pct of GDP recession cannot be tackled with spending amounting to 2 pct share of GDP and accused the government of "letting the recession unfold, excluding what they call 'zombie' businesses from aid, and keeping public money for those that survive."

According to Pappas, the only "way out" for SMEs was redundancies and wage cuts.