Now the cost-of-living crisis, which is based on profiteering and which contributes to tax-inducing GDP growth, “suffocates” middle incomes as well. It is evident that every month, as early as July 2021, a new burden of greed inflation is added. At the same time, there is a governmental refusal to effectively supervise and control the intermediate supply chain in order to find out the causes of profiteering and to crack down on them in order to relieve the society winterized by greed.
Even in this period when energy costs are “low”, the latest Eurobarometer recorded that 28% of Greeks state that during the last twelve months they had difficulties paying their bills at the end of the month. Another 51% testified that they face this problem from time to time. At roughly the same time that food inflation has exceeded 30% from 2021, 79% of Greeks are facing enormous difficulties to pay their bills and at the same time bring home the necessary food and consumer goods.
They eat from the “fat”
This cost of living crisis has also brought a reduction in deposits. It is typical that based on the data of the Bank of Greece, within three months, from December 2023 to March 2024, deposits decreased by 4.4 billion euros. Specifically, while in December household and business deposits were measured at 201.62 billion euros, in March 2024 they had decreased to 197.21 billion euros. All this despite the fact that in March there was an increase in deposits compared to February. According to the data of the Bank of Greece, while last December the deposits were measured at 201.62 billion, in January they were measured at 198.05 billion and in February at 196.24 billion euros.
If we focus on households (measured together with private non-profit institutions), we see the following:
• in October 2023, a decrease of 99 million euros was recorded in deposits,
• in November 2023, a new decrease in deposits of 153 million euros was recorded,
• December 2023 recorded an increase in deposits of €3.08 billion as a result of the payment of the Christmas gift and the slight increase in pensioners that did not replace their income,
• in January 2024, a decrease in deposits of 2.07 billion euros was recorded as a result of consumption within the festive days and also the payment of income tax and circulation fees,
• in February 2024, a decrease in deposits of 156 million euros was recorded, mainly as a result of the payment of income tax and circulation fees,
• in March 2024 an increase of 396 million euros was recorded, mainly as a result of the opening of the tourist season which caused a large number of new hires. As can easily be seen, the drop in deposits (they were over-inflated in 2020-21 due to the pandemic crisis and lockdown) shows that households are eating from scratch to meet their huge monthly living costs.
Who submits
Where the “slaughter” of middle incomes, which eat from the “fat” of deposits, can be seen, is in the fact that 72.5% of those who deal with banks have deposits of up to 1,000 euros in their accounts. This means that these are employees with an average net salary of 980 euros and pensioners with an average net pensionable salary of 876 euros. They all use their account just to get through the month.
However, with an average monthly net salary of €980, it means that these depositors’ money amounts to around €2.45 billion, as it is what is deposited into bank accounts by employers. What this means in practice is that they all come in and out monthly. Therefore, in the last quarter, about 1.95 billion euros were “burnt” from the “fat”.
So when seven out of ten people do not have more than 1,000 euros in their account, it is easy to conclude that even middle-income people cannot afford the cost of living and eat from ready meals. Who are they; It is easily derived from the distribution of deposits. So according to the data, in addition to the 72.5% who are depositors of 1,000 euros, a percentage of 12.4% have deposits from 1,001 to 5,000 euros and a percentage of 13% deposits from 5,001 to 50,000 euros.
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