Greek SMEs suffered a 48 pct drop in turnover because of capital controls, survey
The Small Enterprises’ Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (IME GSEVEE) on Monday said that the vast majority of enterprises have suffered an average decline of 48 pct in their turnover because of the imposition of capital controls on bank transactions, while three out of 10 enterprises reported a decline of more than 70 pct.
In a report released on Monday, IME GSEVEE said that consumption fell by 50 pct, or 3.8 billion euros, which lead to losses of 570 million euros in lost taxes. GSEVEE also noted that the consequences from capital controls could be more painful in the next six months.
The survey was conducted by MARC in the period 21-27 July on a sample of 1,005 enterprises. The survey also showed that small and medium sized enterprises were not prepared to deal with the consequences of capital controls as a 50 pct used e-banking services and seven out of 10 did not used EFT/POS machines to credit/debit cards.
Finally, seven out of 10 businessmen said they were not going on vacations this year, the highest rate ever recorded in the country.
