Even after bailout exit, holiday meals will be frugal

Four months after Greece formally ended the eight years of harsh bailout programs overseen by the country’s international creditors, cash-strapped Greeks are again preparing to celebrate Christmas on tight budgets.

This year’s holiday meal tomorrow will remain frugal, consumers who flooded Athens’s central meat market – the Varvakeios – told Xinhua.

The economy is recovering, according to official indexes, but the average Greek household is still struggling to make ends meet after dozens of rounds of salary cuts and tax hikes reduced incomes by at least 25 percent compared to pre-crisis levels.

A traditional Christmas dinner for six to eight people, which includes turkey, pork or lamb, salads, soft drinks, wine and dessert, will cost 149.09 euros on average, almost the same as last year, according to a recent survey by the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship.

Most people at the market last week were searching for special offers, discounts and the cheapest ingredients for the menu to lower the cost as much as possible, Varvakeios president Kleanthis Tsironis told Xinhua.

[Xinhua]