SELPE expects commerce to miss out on 16 bln euros in 2020

contracted by 0.9 percent on an annual basis in the first quarter of the year, the Hellenic Statistical Authority announced last week, against a 3.6 percent contraction across the eurozone. However, the figures will get much worse once the pandemic’s impact on the economy is felt later in the year, said Antonis Zairis, vice president of the Hellenic Retail Business Association (SELPE) and assistant professor at the Neapolis University in Paphos, Cyprus. He told Xinhua that the impact will be greater in the final four months of the year, with a deeper recession then. He shared SELPE’s forecasts for 2020 with Xinhua, which point to a 14 percent annual reduction in retail commerce turnover – i.e. a loss of 7 billion euros – and a 10 percent yearly drop in wholesale commerce, amounting to €9 billion.