Greeks suffered heavily in eurozone crisis: report

The Greek people suffered more in the eurozone crisis and to a greater degree than thought, according to a report on Tuesday from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD said that the Greek economic crisis had a deep and widespread impact on the Mediterranean nation, inflicting greater pain on ordinary people than the 2008-2009 global financial crisis imposed on neighboring nations in eastern Europe.

The findings appear in the latest of the EBRD's Life in Transition Surveys, a wide-ranging survey that shows how people's lives have been shaped by political and economic upheaval in the eastern European region over the last 25 years.

The EBRD, which has its headquarters in London and which funds development in emerging market and developing nations in eastern Europe, north Africa and central Asia, said that the survey results showed 92 percent of Greek respondents were affected by the crisis "a fair amount" or "a lot".

The economic crisis in Greece was deep and long-lasting. By the end of 2015, national GDP had contracted by 26 percent compared to 2008 levels.

Total unemployment went up by 17.1 percentage points and youth unemployment increased to nearly 50 percent.

A total of 76 percent of respondents experienced a negative income shock such as reduced wages or pensions, job losses, delayed or suspended wages and decreased working hours between 2010 and 2016, compared with one in two households in the EBRD's area of operations and about one in three in western Europe in 2008-2010.

Almost 44 percent of Greek households saw their wages or pensions reduced during 2010-2016, and in more than 24 percent of the interviewed households, at least one member lost their job.

More than 51 percent of affected Greek households reduced their consumption of necessities, such as staple foods and medicines, as a result of the crisis.

"Compared to eastern European households interviewed, Greeks have had to resort to cutting the consumption of necessities, non-necessities and services to a greater extent," the report said.

Only 16 percent of the survey respondents in Greece believed their situation will improve over the next four years, compared with 48 percent in eastern European countries and 35 and 23 percent in Germany and Italy, respectively.

"This signals that... Greeks do not see their situation improving for the foreseeable future", the report said. Endit