ATHENS, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- One in five Greek citizens fears that their foreclosed property may be auctioned, according to a survey presented Thursday by the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen & Merchants (GSEVEE).
Despite signs of improvement in macroeconomic indices, inequality between lower and medium incomes is increasing, undermining social cohesion, GSEVEE president George Kavvathas warned, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
More than 70 percent of young Greeks aged 18-34 years want to seek a job abroad, 51 percent of households depended on pensions and three out of four jobless people were suffering from chronic unemployment, according to the survey conducted on a sample of 1,006 households in November 2017.
The 14.6 percent of respondents said their income was not adequate to cover their basic needs, while 61.1 percent of households were forced to make cutbacks on clothing/footwear, 48.3 percent on entertainment and 40.2 percent on food.
About a fifth of households are in arrears to the tax office and 55.6 percent have reached a settlement for their debt. A third (31.1 percent) are in arrears to banks, while one in four said they could not meet their tax obligations this year and a 32.2 percent said they could not meet their loan obligations to banks.
Expectations for 2018 remained negative with 63.6 percent expecting a deterioration of their finances.
