Greek unemployment eased further in July, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) said on Thursday, continuing its slow but steady downtrend. According to ELSTAT, Greece’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell to 26.4% — down 1.4% compared to July 2013 — and slightly better than the revised 26.7% recorded in June. In absolute terms, some 1.28 million Greeks are without a job. The country’s unemployment rate has been easing slightly month after month, after reaching a peak of 28% in September 2013. July’s reading is the lowest since December 2012, when the unemployment rate stood at its current level. However, it remains more than double the Eurozone average of 11.5% in July, underscoring that the country still has a long road to recovery ahead. Greece’s economy is now in its seventh calendar year of a deep recession, made worse by waves of austerity measures imposed by international creditors in exchange for two bailout packages totaling close to €250 billion ($US319 billion). The recession has shaved a quarter off the gross domestic product output. According to ELSTAT, Greek consumer prices continued to decline in September, another effect of the country’s protracted recession, leading to weak spending in most goods and services. The consumer-price index (CPI) fell 0.8% in September, compared to a year earlier. The decline was mostly due to a 3.8% drop in the heavily weighted transport index and a 4.8% retreat in prices for miscellaneous goods and services. On a monthly basis, prices went up 2.1% compared to August, on a sharp 35.6% increase in clothing and footwear prices, due to the end of the summer sales’ period. With consumer spending depressed, retail prices have been declining steadily since March last year, when the CPI turned negative for the first time since the start of the financial crisis. As a 12-month moving average, from October 2013 through September 2014, consumer prices have decreased 1.4% compared to the same time last year. Greece’s economy is expected to return to growth in 2014. The Greek government and its international creditors are forecasting an annual expansion rate of 0.6% this year. Unemployment is expected to ease to an average rate of 26% this year from 27.3% in 2013, according to the latest European Commission forecast.
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