Greece: more price hikes coming, especially for basic foodstuffs

New price increases of around 10%, which cover almost all categories of products in supermarkets, show price lists that go from suppliers to companies and will be valid from July.

It should be noted that this is happening against the backdrop of rising prices for other categories of consumer goods and services. With the food index exceeding even the average inflation record for the second month in a row [цены в этой категории в мае с.г. выросли на 12,1% в годовом исчислении при индексе потребительских цен на 11,3%, а в апреле поднялись на 10,9 % при индексе потребительских цен на уровне 10,2%]estimates for June look even more ominous.

Prices increased by more than 20%

For the first quarter of this year, a food basket of 25 essentials has already risen in price by 6.2%. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the rate of price growth increased even more. Most worryingly, price increases are spreading for all products, and not only for those that are directly related to the import of raw materials from Russia and Ukraine.

By official data ELSTATfrom April to early June, prices increased for a number of food categories:

According to market participants, prices will continue to rise all summer, while according to the “optimistic scenario”, if there is no new state of emergency, prices are expected to de-escalate in autumn.

Prices in other European countries rose slightly.

If you look at the supermarket shelves, you will want to escape to Germany, Spain, Austria, France. Here are some examples:

• In Spain, basic foodstuffs such as milk, bread, eggs and cheese have a VAT of 4%, while in Greece it is 13%!
• In Germany some products are subject to 7% VAT, while in Austria milk and cereals are subject to 10% VAT.
• A pack of 23 baby diapers costs €8.98 in Greece and €3.80 in large supermarket chains in Germany. That is, in Greece it costs 2.5 times more than in Germany.
• Energy inflation in May 2021 in Greece was 60.9% compared to 39.2% on average in the euro area.
• Greece ranks third in Europe for the final average price of unleaded petrol, i.e. 2,777 euros per litre, after Finland and Denmark. The pre-tax price was the 12th highest.
• In April, Greece occupied sixth place in terms of food inflation (11.3%) among the eurozone countries and exceeded her average.
• The price of a liter of fresh milk in Spain is 0.8 euros, and in Greece 1.24 euros, i.e. 50% more expensive.
• Significantly, bread prices rose by 13.1% (8.6% in the eurozone), and meat by 14.3%, which is the highest increase in the eurozone and almost doubles the average for it (7.8%).

And all this against the backdrop of insane taxes. For example, more than 50% tax is imposed on entrepreneurs, starting from 0 euros of income. There is no such thing anywhere in the world.

Benefits

This is not to say that the government is not trying to help the poorest citizens. However, this assistance often does not allow living even from hand to mouth.

Source link