Greece: Prices lower, but households struggling to survive

The prices of basic commodities may be lower than in other European Union countries, but the cost of living in Greece remains higher.

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This is the conclusion of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (Esee) after studying the findings of a four-month survey by the Research Institute of Retail Consumer Goods (Ielka) on household purchases in Greece in comparison with the United Kingdom, France and Spain.

The survey, found that Greece is the cheapest among the four countries in terms of the prices of commonly purchased supermarket goods. The contents of the average shopping basket in Greece add up to 38.93 euros with value-added tax included and 33.54 euros without.

In Spain the same basket costs 0.26% more with VAT and 5.84% more without. In France it is 24.95% and 32.36% more expensive, while in the UK the same two figures are 30.45% and 40.37% higher respectively.

"Deducing that the lower prices mean a higher living standard would be a hurried and misleading conclusion, as other factors must also be taken into account," the Esee said in a statement. And it stressed that "only by examining the data along with the level of salaries in Greece in comparison with the other countries in the survey can the household shopping basket be properly analyzed and interpreted." For this reason, Esee provides data on the lowest and average monthly salaries in all of the surveyed countries:

In Greece, according to Eurostat, the minimum salary (before taxes) in January stood at 684 euros, against 753 euros in Spain, 1,445 euros in France and 1,217 euros in the UK. The average salary amounted to 818 euros in Greece, 2,019 euros in Spain, 2,651 euros in France and 2,504 euros in the UK.