Greece: What is really happening in Greece? - Snobby Homes

What is really happening in Greece?

Recent events have sadly shown Greece and its people as being rather lazy and perhaps greedy for the good life but if you go back three years, when the UK banking system was in meltdown, people were deep in debt and busy maxing out on credit cards. Interestingly, that was never the case in Greece.
Greece is a cash society so there was never the same level of personal debt and banks didn't have to be bailed out by tax payers either.

Despite all the adverse publicity, it may be surprising to know how fast Greece moved in introducing a whole raft of austerity measures to help reduce sovereign debt.

What may be surprising to UK readers of the newspapers is that Greece realised the problem and to contain the country's solvency, the government introduced a whole raft of measures to reduce sovereign debt.

Tax thresholds were slashed from £10,300 down to £4,300. VAT was raised to an eye watering 23%. All pensions above £860 a month were cut by 20%. Public sector wages were chopped by 20%, while employees of state-owned enterprises had wages decimated by 30%. 'Solidarity' payments of 1%-5% of annual salaries were deducted in lump sums. If you owned a car with an engine size of over 3 litres you had to pay a one off 'Solidarity' payment of approximately £450 and the latest move has been the introduction of a property tax. Based on the size and location of your house, typically this amounts to £250 - £350 per year which is levied on the electric bill. All this and a typical salary in Greece is only around £1,100 per month.

In the world of politics, it's usually the man in the street having to pay for the mess created by politicians.

While for the most part austerity measures do not really affect ex-pats, for Greeks times are hard - and will probably remain so for some time to come as the government grapples to stimulate growth.

However, for Brits wondering whether to make that move to the sun, Greece is still a safe place to live, the weather is wonderful, the crime rate is low and your UK pension buys a far better lifestyle compared to the doom and gloom of having to live in the UK.

If you choose to live on one of the islands, such as Crete, then the impact of the world’s financial problems seem even further away. With a UK pension or funds from the sale of your UK house, you can reside in Greece for a very small outlay per week and enjoy a relaxed and enviable lifestyle.

Mike Saunders

Mike is Marketing director of Snobby Homes, www.snobbyhomes.co.uk