By Athanasios Adamopoulos

 

Greek economic sentiment index rose to 108.8 points in April from 107 in March, the highest reading in the last 12 months, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research IOBE said in a report on Wednesday. IOBE attributed this development to an improvement of expectations in the retail commerce and services sectors, with all other sectors falling and consumer confidence deteriorating.

 

Greek households continue suffering from rising prices in food and other basic items. However, consumer confidence on average was moving higher compared with last year’s average. IOBE said that expectations remained positive ahead of the general elections in May 21 although a wait-and-see stance was evident ahead of the economic policy to be announced after the elections.

 

More specifically, expectations in the industrial sector remained flat on new orders and demand, along with positive estimates over production in the coming months. In the construction sector, negative estimates over production grew significantly, while positive estimates over employment weakened.

 

In the retail commerce sector, estimates over current sales remained unchanged, while expectations over short-term sales trend improved significantly. In the services sector, positive estimates over the current condition of enterprises rose significantly with expectations over demand rising. Greek households were more pessimistic over their finances and the country’s finances, while expectations over major purchases and savings fell slightly.

 

At the same time Greek unemployment rate fell to 10.9% of the workforce in March this year, from 11.3% in February and 12.7% in March 2022, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Wednesday.

 

More specifically, the number of unemployed people totaled 508,744, down 100,395 from March 2022 (16.5%) and down 14,096 from February 2023 (2.7%). The unemployment rate among women was 14.5% (16.8% in March 2022) and among men it fell to 7.8% from 9.4%, respectively. The unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group fell to 24.2% from 28.9% in 2022 and in the 25-74 age group it fell to 10.2% from 11.9%, respectively. The number of employed people was 4,166,819, down 0.1% from March 2022 but up 1.4% from February 2023.