Greeks still eating into savings

The prospects of social prosperity remain limited as the country is on a low growth course due to insufficient investments, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) warns in its weekly bulletin. It also says the government should not go back on its austerity pledges, although households had to dig deep into their savings again last year.

SEV wonders to what extent Greece will be able to accelerate its growth rate after emerging from the bailout program so as to recover the ground lost in the crisis years. Recently, it notes, fear this will not be possible has increased, as in 2017 the growth rate was far below expectations, while for 2018 the estimates have again been revised lower.

"Greece is in a macroeconomic balance," the bulletin notes, adding that "we do not save much and we invest even less." Households, in particular, which also include freelance...