Hellenic Statistical Authority

Greece's public debt increased to 334.988 billion euros at the end of the third quarter of 2018, Greece's Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) revealed on Monday.

On a yearly basis, the figure represented an increase of 21.493 billion euros from the same period of 2017.

The drop in Greece's unemployment rate appears to have been achieved through the creation of more jobs at low salaries, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) says, noting that the lion's share of the employment spike is seen in the salary bracket of 501-600 euros per month. The higher the salary, meanwhile, the lower the rate of the increase in employment.

Car sales climbed past the 100,000 mark in 2018 for the first time since 2010, according to figures published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Thursday.

However, while the market's expansion may be positive, it does not suffice to offset the huge losses it suffered since Greece entered the bailout mechanism.

Greece's jobless rate stood at 18.6 percent in October, unchanged from the previous month, data from the country's statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.

October's unemployment is the lowest reading since July 2011.

Seasonally adjusted data showed the number of unemployed at 875,997 people, with younger persons aged up to 24 bearing the brunt of being out of work.

Greek retail sales by volume dropped 4 percent in October compared to the same month in 2017 after a downwardly revised 2.9 percent increase in September, statistics service ELSTAT said on Monday.

Retail sales were led lower by automotive fuel, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) announced on Friday that its general index of industrial producer prices showed a 2.9 percent annual increase in November 2018, slowing down from the 5.5 percent yearly rise recorded 12 months earlier.

However, compared to October 2018, there was a 3.2 percent decline.

In previous Notes for Discussion, we derived a long-run annual path to bring the Greek economy home to safe and sustainable conditions with debt below 60 percent of GDP. However, a long-run annual path for real and nominal GDP is quite abstract, so the question arises how one can translate such an abstract path into a quarterly monitorable one for the medium run, say five years out.

Greece's trade deficit posted a marginal decline in October, as export growth outpaced the increase in imports.

The total value of exports in October amounted to 3.1 billion euros against 2.5 billion in October 2017, a rise of 24 percent, Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) figures showed on Friday.

Greece's jobless rate eased to 18.6 percent in September from 18.9 percent in the previous month, falling to its lowest level since July 2011, data from the country's statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.

Seasonally adjusted data showed the number of unemployed at 887,009 people, with younger persons aged up to 24 bearing the brunt of being out of work.

Greece's nine-month gross domestic output data hovered around the annual target for a 2.1 percent expansion, but investments remain in negative territory and the economy has been saved by tourism, exports and private consumption. Imports are also growing, threatening the balance of the current accounts.