More than 1,500 enterprises in the manufacturing and services sectors have relocated to neighboring countries in the last 12 months, while the number of Greeks crossing the borders for shopping surpass 600,000 on a monthly basis and this number rises steadily, an announcement by the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE) said.
The group noted that this trend was causing an uncontrollable bleeding to the Greek market. The Confederation said that one in four enterprises based near the country’s borders have closed down, (AMNA) while several businessmen were considering their relocation abroad. ESEE stressed that a strict austerity policy implemented in Greece not only it does not offer fiscal results but at the same time it was leading the productive middle class to destruction.
ESEE noted that cross-border illegal trade and smuggling were strongly hitting the northern Greece and border regions of Macedonia, Thrace, the northern Aegean and the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean, with more than 500 million euros of Greek capital spent in Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) and Turkey for the purchase of consumer goods annually. These purchases focuses on clothing, footwear, cigarettes, petrol, dental services and car services, while many people were also buying their weekly food supplies from neighboring countries. (AMNA)
ESEE noted that cross-border illegal trade and smuggling were strongly hitting the northern Greece and border regions of Macedonia, Thrace, the northern Aegean and the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean, with more than 500 million euros of Greek capital spent in Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) and Turkey for the purchase of consumer goods annually. These purchases focuses on clothing, footwear, cigarettes, petrol, dental services and car services, while many people were also buying their weekly food supplies from neighboring countries. (AMNA)