Greek barista Kyriakos Giannichronis has seen the headlines about his country’s economy booming again after years of recession – but he does not feel the wealth.
At the end of the month, the Athenian only has about 150 euros (170 dollars) left, even though he gets cheap rent and earns just a little more than the minimum wage.
Many Greeks are facing similar challenges, which is why Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is widely expected to announce new benefits in a keynote speech this weekend.
“I am certainly responsible for my income, but … everything is increasing and increasing. And the amount we receive stays about the same every year,” he said.
“It looks like things are getting better, but that’s not the case,” the 27-year-old told AFP.
Despite the Mediterranean country’s significant recovery and economic growth of two percent – a higher rate than in much of Europe – living standards in Greece remain low.
The reason for these two sides of the coin is that Greece has a lot of catching up to do after an economic crisis lasting almost ten years and a recession caused by the pandemic.
The economy “is growing and all the right measures are leading to improvements, but we are starting from a very low level,” economist Nikos Vettas told AFP.
“Even if there is an increase now, this improvement is not enough to catch up,” says Vettas, who heads the Greek Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research, the think tank IOBE.
To make matters even more complicated, housing and food prices had risen due to inflation, which is only now beginning to decline.
“The cost of living has actually wiped out some of our wage increases, and as a result, real incomes for many households are suffering,” Vettas said.
The conservative Mitsotakis government – whose poll ratings are declining – has attributed the high cost of living to the sharp rise in energy prices as a result of the war in Ukraine.
His party Nea Dimokratia is currently polling at around 22 percent, a long way from the 40.56 percent it won in the national elections last year.
Mitsotakis is expected to announce a new round of benefits in the prime minister’s annual economic speech in Thessaloniki this weekend.
“Life is so expensive”
Last year, the country, with just over 10 million inhabitants, had the second lowest GDP per capita in purchasing power within the European Union.
Only Bulgaria performed worst, according to the EU data agency Eurostat.
It was also found that the average annual income in Greece in 2023 was half the European average.
And the Greek minimum wage, at 830 euros, is around 900 euros lower than the French one.
“So how are you supposed to live when you have to spend 500 euros on rent for a house?” asks Athens hairdresser Christina Massiou.
“Life is so expensive that you can’t save money for emergencies,” added the 24-year-old.
She and her friend Alexandra Siouti, who works at a PR agency, spoke under a palm tree on a beach near Athens.
They went there to relax and “escape reality,” Massiou said.
“I’ve heard the older generations say things are getting better. For them, maybe,” Siouti, also 24, told AFP.
“But younger people don’t have many opportunities here to start their lives and invest in their dreams.”
No Switzerland or Sweden
Last month, the Ministry of Economy said that net disposable income of households had increased in recent years, putting Greece in 16th place in the European Union.
The data confirmed the “significant progress our country has made over the past five years,” the ministry said in a statement.
However, the ministry acknowledged that this was no reason to celebrate, nor was it a reason to “underestimate the real difficulties facing many of our fellow citizens.”
“It is obvious that Greece has not turned into Switzerland or Sweden,” it said.
Economist Vettas noted that some sectors performed better than others.
“We have seen a sharp increase in salaries over the last three or four years in occupations where workers have a certain specialization or expertise,” he said.
“Either at the top or the bottom end,” Vettas added, citing computer scientists and construction workers as examples.
But for workers in a sector like hospitality – a major economic sector in Greece – “it is not easy to see how their situation can be improved”.
Giannichronis, the barista, said he tries to remain calm in the face of the economic situation, although he is constantly thinking about money.
“I’m not angry because that wouldn’t do me any good. Things are what they are. There’s not much we can change,” he said.
What he can control is budgeting his own expenses and helping his friends better manage theirs, he added.
“But if I were to get angry about it, I would start to lose myself and scream like crazy in the street… and I don’t want that.”
A Wall Street legend gets a radical makeover, crypto injustice, misbehaving poultry kings, and more.
Read the stories.