Inflation in Greece recorded increasing trends in August as well (for the 4th consecutive month), as according to Eurostat’s preliminary data it reached 3.1%, from 3% in July, ranking our country in the 5th place with the highest inflation in of the Eurozone. Neither more nor less than the above official figures reflect the continuation of price appreciation, which directly affects households.
It is worth noting that Eurostat’s figures are in complete contradiction to the report – 3 days ago – by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the cabinet, speaking of “…a climate that some are trying to create around prices in the market, in a period where inflation is falling and price increases have fallen below the European average.” It is hard to believe that Eurostat has the slightest intention of this type.
Inflation: The appreciations across the spectrum of activities
The appreciations in Greece are present and “spread across a wide range of activities. For example, the rise in energy prices in Greece in August was the second-fastest among eurozone states that have provided data, with Belgium in the worst position with a 12.5% rise in energy prices. A decrease in energy prices is recorded in almost all the countries of the eurozone, with the price drop exceeding 5% in the case of Germany, Finland and Italy.
An acceleration was also recorded in Greece in the growth rate of the “food, tobacco and alcohol” index, with an increase of 1.8% in August compared to 1.4% in July.
At the same time, there was also a rise in the index of industrial goods excluding energy, which rose by 1.3% in August on an annual basis, against a 0.9% increase in July but also a performance of only 0.4% in the Eurozone.
The pressures on services are also great, with a rise in the index in Greece by 4.7% in August compared to a rise of 5% in July and a rise of 4.2% in the Eurozone. It is worth noting that this increase is higher than the average of the Eurozone with the highest increase in services being recorded in Croatia, Slovenia and the Netherlands.
And the non-energy price index accelerated in August in Greece, up 3.2% from 3.1% in July. The rise was higher than the eurozone average in which the non-energy price index rose 2.7% in August.
Baltas: Inflation did not take a holiday in August
The OT addressed the Professor of the Department of Marketing & Communication of the Athens University of Economics, Georgios Balta, who noted that “On Friday, August 30, 2024, Eurostat announced the estimates for inflation (harmonized consumer price index) for the month of August 2024. Based on Eurostat estimates, August inflation in Greece stands at 3.1% and has been increasing consecutively for the fourth consecutive month. The same index in the entire Eurozone is estimated at 2.2%. Greece is ranked 5th in the Eurozone based on the rate of price increase.”
Therefore, he said that “These estimates unfortunately confirm the daily experience of consumers who are struggling to adjust to an ever-increasing cost of living. It is very important to point out that the accuracy concerns goods absolutely necessary for the daily survival of every family, while it is combined with very expensive energy and roof.”
Furthermore, he added that “The persistence of inflation reminds us of some well-known problems of the Greek economy: the country’s production deficit which is covered by disproportionately high imports, the high cost of production and operation of businesses which is inevitably reflected in consumer prices, and the prevailing oligopolistic conditions in critical markets”.
Doukidis: Fluctuations and methodology
However, the Professor of Electronic Business at the Department of Administrative Science and Technology of the School of Business Administration of the Athens University of Economics, Georgios Doukidis, speaking to OT, referred to the figures announced yesterday by IELKA, noting that they are “the actual average figures (which are taken into account and promotions) of price increase/decrease in supermarkets in August 2024 compared to the corresponding month last year. On average we had a decrease of -1.08% and in fact the decrease is for the fourth month in a row, which shows that there is a tendency in the last period of a gradual de-escalation of prices”.
He also added that: “Of course, as always happens, among the 24 different categories of products there are significant fluctuations in prices because they concern different production/wholesale sectors. For example, in August we had an average decrease of -6.68% in the category detergents/cleaning products, while we had an average increase of +5.52% in appetizers/unpastes”.
And he concluded: “For the Eurostat figures, let’s mention that they concern the entire market (whereas IELKA only measures what happens in supermarkets where in Greece they only have 55-60% of the total food market) while there is a different methodology recording related to price sampling and category/product weights.
Source: ot.gr
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