Greek retailers and consumers in the doldrums

The economic climate improved slightly in July due to better growth expectations in industry, construction and services, according to a report by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE).

However, this optimism is not reflected in retail commerce, where expectations have clearly deteriorated.

Overall, the economic climate index improved to 90.8 from 87.6 in June, still below the 100 threshold separating expectations of growth from expectations of recession.

Construction and services did better than industry, with businessmen active in both sectors appearing to believe that their business will finally begin to get out of the doldrums they found themselves stuck in earlier this year amid the first surge in the pandemic.

Retail trade stands out, however, for its bad climate. The sector's expectations sub-index dropped to 70.4 from 84.4 in...