Greek households remain pessimistic over 2023 mainly because of the consequences of price increases, the Small Enterprises’ Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (GSEVEE) said on Wednesday.

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

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

A total of 52.4% of respondents said their monthly income covered 18 days (on average), a development related to 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 51.1% said the most efficient measure was salary and pension increases.