Hotels risk food shortages

The Greek market may experience food shortages in August if applications to facilitate imports continue to be processed at the current slow rate, the Association of Hellenic Food Enterprises (SEET) warned on Thursday.

SEET argued that the first victims will be hotels and tourism in general, as most hotel units do not have the necessary infrastructure to store large quantities of food.

According to the organization, just 7 percent of applications for payment arrangements regarding food imports had been approved until Thursday. This concerns demands submitted by importers through their banks to a special committee set up at the Finance Ministry.

The 7 percent that has been satisfied corresponds to just 10.5 percent of the value of total applications for food imports submitted.

SEET says that the problem is not only due to the bureaucratic procedures of the special committee and of local banks, but also to the lack of cashflow among importing enterprises.