Trade with Greece
47
The facts
The positive signals sent by tourism, industrial
production, and the unemployment rate somehow
offset the impact of uncertainty on the economic
sentiment among manufacturing firms and con-
sumers, indicating that the restoration of confi-
dence can have a major positive effects on the
Greek economy’s situation. According to the lat-
est available data:
• The Economic Sentiment Indicator fell to 92.9
in February from 95.1 in January 2017. It
should be noted that, despite this fall,
February’s performance is improved on a year-
on-year basis (89 in 2016). Individual sectors
–excluding industry– saw substantial falls,
which were more pronounced in retail trade
and construction. There was also a substantial
drop in consumer confidence, which almost fell
at April 2016 levels – the lowest since August
2013.
• In February, the Purchasing Managers’ Index
(PMI) continued to fall for a sixth consecutive
month. The reduction of new orders led to the
contraction of output and, as a result, enter-
prises made cuts in both their personnel and
procurements. The index closed at 47.7 points
in February (a reading of 50 indicates no
change), which is anyway higher than
January’s reading of 46.6.
• In December 2016, the value of retail sales in
department stores, food, beverages, apparel,
footwear, and pharmacies was reduced by
1.3% year-on-year.
• The unemployment rate fell to 23% in
November 2016 from 24.5% in November
2015, albeit remained unchanged in compari-
son to October 2016.
• Consumer confidence fell to -67.8 points in
January 2017 (from -64.4 in December 2016
