Turnover plunged by more than 50 percent in real terms in the clothing-footwear branch in 2010, while substantial declines were also recorded in the branches of cosmetics, medicines, fuel and even food, according to a survey by the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE) on the course of the market, entrepreneurship and employment in the past year that was released on Monday.
Overall, shop revenues declined by 5.1 percent in the period 2008-2010, although the decline was sharply contained from 7.1 percent in 2009 to 2.2 percent 2010, the second consecutive year of recession on the market.
According to ESEE, the decline in consumption in real terms (volume) in 2010 was 52 percent in clothing and footwear, 28 percent in fuel, 27 percent in medicines and cosmetics, 15 percent in furniture and electrical appliances, 14 percent in alcohol and tobacco, and 11 percent in food.
ESEE anticipated that it will be very difficult to 'heal the wounds' left by 2010 in business activity, the market and chiefly Greek commerce given that commerce recorded a decline in turnover and suffered the withdrawal of thousands of entrepreneurs from the profession.
Also, the VAT rate increases, the 20 percent reduction of civil servants' salaries and pensions that resulted in a drastic reduction in the purchasing power of consumers, the decline in liquidity (cash flow), the increase in unemployment and the "reproduction of the negative psychology on the market" had "dramatic effects" on Greek commercial enterprises, ESEE said, adding that the spectre of more austerity measures by the government puts a brake on any investment initiatives.
The confederation further noted that the number of people employed in commerce declined by 52,000 in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the corresponding quarter in 2009, falling to 785,500. The figure improved partly in the second quarter of 2010, rising to 801,100 but falling again, although at a smaller proportion, to 800,200 in the third quarter of 2010.
ANA-MPA
