New study finds 67% of Greeks "barely making ends meet"

Consumers claiming to be saving, more or less, remain at 7% of the total, while those who say they are in debt are mildly reduced to 15% (from 17%).

On the same wavelength, 61% households expect a slight or appreciable deterioration in their financial situation next year(from 57% in February), while 4% predicts a slight improvement.

A similar picture is garnered for the situation of the country next year, with 63% predicting slight or appreciable deterioration.

A slight deterioration is also recorded in the intention to save as the index falls back in March and stands at -76.3 (from -75.9) points. 89% of households do not consider saving in the next 12 months, while 10% consider it probable or very likely.

At the same time, the consumer confidence index remained consistently high in March (-52.8 points versus -53 points in February), with the authors reporting that "the steadines in consumer confidence, after its slight deterioration in February, highlights that current conditions do not constitute an environment of faster recovery in the economy in total".

Overall, the Economic Climate Index broke the upward trend in recent months in March and fell to lower levels in March at 99.8 (from 104.3) points. As stated in the IOBE report, "this development is the result of the significant weakening of business expectations in all the different sectors of the economy, which, moreover, it was those that had given a dynamic rise in the past. Business expectations are more pronounced in Construction and Industry and less in Services and Retail Trade. On the contrary,
consumer confidence is steadily growing. "