The Greek economy is stagnating and the situation is getting worse each day due to the uncertainty over the agreement with creditors. According to the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE), each day that passes without a deal, Greece is losing 22.3 million euros from its gross domestic product, as 59 businesses are shut down and 613 jobs are lost every 24 hours. ESEE said in an announcement that any kind of agreement with creditors will allow the Greek economy to start again. Also, the liquidity infusions from the European Central Bank (ECB) are not contributing anything to the country’s economy. ESEE estimates that the Greek economy needs at leat 25 billion euros to restart, since it is very hard to compensate for the losses in the first five months of 2015. According to the confederation’s figures, in the past five years, retail dropped by 26.2%, wholesale trade fell 37.1% and car sales dropped 61.9%. At the same time, Greek banks reject 95% of loan applications, thereby only one in 10 small-to-medium businesses apply for loans. Furthermore, the absorption of financial tools for business liquidity does not exceed 40% and trade financing just 12%. Deposits in Greek banks amount to 138 billion euros, almost 58% of total loans that amount to 219 billion euros. Banks have lent at least 1/8 of deposits to the state for the renewal of Treasury bills. Withdrawals since December amount to 35 billion euros, meaning that banks are at their limits. According to ESEE, the primary surplus in the first four months of 2015 was 2.16 billion euros, much higher than the estimated 287 million. This, however, was the result of internal default, meaning that the Greek government is not paying its domestic obligations to suppliers of products and services. This has caused market asphyxiation.
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