Papandreou has tried to rescue the Greek economy by increasing taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol, raising the retirement age by two years, imposing public sector pay cuts and applying a tough new tax evasion regulation, which has not gone down too well with some sectors of society. Also VAT has been increased from 19 per cent to 21 per cent, which has angered most of the population.
Farmers have begun blockading roads to demand greater government subsidies and workers have been staging strikes.
“As a result of this we are all seeing fuel prices going up which in turn means the food prices are increasing too, so the cost of living is rising,” said Pauline. “While all this is happening I still have no regrets about moving here and on the whole it is still cheaper to live here than in the UK.
“We’re learning to shop more wisely and to shop around. We use two or three supermarkets as certain things are cheaper in one than another. If it is saving money then it’s no problem to visit different supermarkets to do our weekly shop.”
Living in the sun is proud to announce Pauline Bennett’s personal account of the economic crisis in Greece. You can read her account in full by visiting: http://livinginthesun.info/
For more information about living in Greece visit: http://www.livinginthesun.info/
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The Living In The Sun team is split into four different countries France, Greece, Portugal and Spain. These are all popular destinations for an expat who plans to live in the sun.
The aim of Living In The Sun is to help other expats who are starting a new life abroad. See http://www.livinginthesun.info for more info.
