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Within one year alone, the disposable income of Greek households and non-profit organizations serving households reported further losses to the amount of 3.1 billion euro as shown by the data of the Greek statistical service ELSTAT.

The 9.3% shrinkage of disposable income, from 33.2 billion euro in the second quarter of 2012 to 30.1 billion euro in the same period in 2013, was mainly due to a 13.9% reduction of the salaries of employees and to a 12.4% reduction of the social benefits received by households.

It should be noted that the social benefits and aids decreased to 29.4 % of the total cost of the state in the second quarter of this year from 44.9% in the same period last year, whereas the salaries of employees fell from 24.1% in 2012 to 16.5% of total spending this year.

According to the Greek statistical service, due to the losses in household income, final consumption expenditure decreased by 7.6 %, from 35.4 billion euro to 32.7 billion euro. The savings rate, which is the ratio of gross savings to gross disposable income, was in the range of -8.7% in the second quarter of 2013 compared with -6.7% in the same period of 2012.

The abovementioned data, published by the Greek statistical service, have been obtained from the non-financial accounts of the institutional sectors and of the government sector.

The borrowing needs of the economy have decreased

The data of the Greek statistical service also reveal that the total revenue of the government sector decreased to 19.13 billion euro in the second quarter of 2013 from 21.14 billion euro a year earlier. Conversely, there was an increase in both the total cost of the government sector, namely from 24.948 billion euro to 33.145 billion euro, and in the primary costs from 22.654 billion euro to 31.216 billion euro.

The rate of investment, which is the ratio of gross investment in fixed capital to gross value added, was 18.1 % in the second quarter of this year compared to 16.2% in 2012. The net borrowing needs of the government sector amounted to 14 billion euro this year in comparison with 3.8 billion last year.

This increase in the deficit in the government sector was due to the capital transfers within the programme of state support for certain banks. Without the support of lending institutions, the borrowing needs would have amounted to 2.6 billion euro.

In general, the net borrowing needs of the Greek economy, as compared to the foreign ones, amounted to 0.8 billion euro. In comparison with the second quarter of 2012 when the borrowing needs amounted to 2.3 billion euro, this year there was a decrease in net borrowing, due to the shrinking of the trade deficit as a result of the contraction of imports. Finally, the net earnings and transfers (current and capital) received from abroad reported a reduction of 0.5 billion euro.