Trade with Greece
23
The above worrying signs are reflected on vari-
ous indicators: More specifically:
•The consumer confidence indicator plummeted
in February 2016 (to -66.8 points from -63.9
points in January 2016 and -61.1 points in
December 2015), mainly because of the deterio-
ration of household expectations regarding their
future financial situation, itself the result of the
pessimism brought about by the new pension and
taxation regulations, as well as the tensions
caused by the refugee crisis.
-The decline in unemployment lost steam during
the final quarter of 2015, despite the fact that,
overall, the jobless rate was substantially reduced
to 24.4% from 26.1% in the same period of the
previous year. According to ELSTAT data, in the
fourth quarter of 2015 the number of the
employed and unemployed stood at 3,641,682
and 1,174,658 respectively. The unemployment
rate stood at 24.4%, as compared to 24.0% in the
previous quarter and 26.1% in the same quarter
of 2014. Employment fell by 0.8% on a quarterly
basis and 3.0% year-on-year.
•The number of registered jobless individuals
increased in January 2016 (to 876,752 from
858,802 in December 2015). This development,
despite being to a certain extent the result of con-
junctural factors such as the holiday season and
the winter sales period, consolidates the rise in
the number of the unemployed since September
2015.
•In January 2016, for the first time after many
months, the current account was in deficit by 742
million euros, increased by 461 million euros
year-on-year. According to the Bank of Greece,
this development is “attributable to a deterioration
in, mainly, the primary income account and, sec-
ondarily, the services balance and the secondary
income account, which was not offset by an ame-
lioration in the balance of goods.” The surplus of
the services balance decreased by 218 million
euros to almost half of the surplus in January
