A large percentage of Greeks is barely able to make ends meet and cannot pay their bills, according to a recent survey.
Seventy percent of those who are delinquent do not pay simply because they do not have the money.
In a survey of two dozen European countries, those who have not paid on or more bills in a timely manner in the last twelve months were 48 percent of the sample, but the main reason for the delays in other countries is negligence, and not economic want.
The above data derive from the European Consumer Payment Report. According to its website, the report is based on a survey that was conducted simultaneously in 24 European countries during September 2017, and had 24, 401 respondents.
The aim of the report is to gain insight in European consumers’ everyday life: their spending and ability to manage their household finances on a monthly basis.
The 2017 report is indicative of the financial dire straits in which huge swathes of Greek society find themselves, after eight full years of austerity and deep recession, which in fact resembles a great depression more.
Greeks find themselves unable to meet their obligations due to utility bills with exceptionally high consumer rates, the heightened tax burden, and private loan obligations.
Most overdue bills in Greece concern electricity bill debts to the Public Power Corporation (DEH) and non-performing housing loans taken out by borrowers whose income was decimated during the crisis or obliterated due to unemployment.
The lack of liquidity in Greek households and borrowing mentalities that developed during the crisis have both contributed to the debt pile-up.
The survey found that 32 percent of consumers in Greece believe it is acceptable to buy consumer goods on credit or borrowed money.
Greece also has the highest percentage of parents who responded that their children will live in worse economic conditions than they did.
It is no wonder, then, that Greece has the second largest percentage (31 percent), after Hungary (33 percent), of respondents who said they are considering emigrating to another country due to their financial condition.
