The president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce is requesting support measures for commercial enterprises

The president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, Stavros Kafounis, calls for measures for commercial companies “that continue to record losses through no fault of their own”.

The president, in a statement, notes that the real economy operates as a whole and the downward trend in catering and related industries is automatically reflected in trade, which has resulted in the onset of winter discounts of reduced sales up to 50% compared to the corresponding period of the last year of regularity, which is 2019.

Specifically, the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, Stavros Kafounis, made the following statement: “The Athens Chamber of Commerce and I personally, never took a maximalist or protesting cry for all the difficult but necessary things we all had to face during the crisis.

While retail sales figures for the third quarter of 2021 were encouraging, unfortunately the restrictive measures and the Omicron mutation cut short the expectations of the commercial world, resulting in the fall of the market in the last two months of 2021, to worsens in the first days of the winter discount period.

Because the real economy operates as a whole and the downward trend in catering and related industries is automatically reflected in trade, we have had the start of winter discounts record sales of up to 50% over the corresponding period. last year of regularity, which is 2019.

At the same time, rising indexes, mainly due to food and energy and transportation costs, will inevitably affect other industries, which with titanic efforts have absorbed most of them, keeping prices low for consumers.

Therefore, as we hope to take the last steps of a difficult and exhausting struggle, we consider it a big mistake to turn a blind eye now, while we can, with relatively manageable costs, keep the production units active, which in a few months we will need to achieve growth rates we want for the benefit of the economy and social cohesion.

In this climate, targeted and proportionate support, which will include commercial companies that continue to record losses through no fault of their own, with measures such as the application of staff suspensions, the extension of payment deadlines and the increase of installments of all business liabilities at 120 as well as the review of the non-repayable part of the repayable advance, are the minimum we expect.

Finally, our proposal for the creation of a special NSRF program “restart for retail” is as relevant as ever, so that the commercial world feels that it is protected and has not been left to its fate “.

Source: AMPE