A report from the Hellenic Statistical Authority today showed the country’s economy continued to shrink in the third quarter, with economic output down just shy of 3%. If there’s any silver lining to be found, at least the economy isn’t shrinking at quite the terrifying pace of just a few quarters back. (During the first quarter the economy shrank by 5.5%.)
Still, the decline during the three months that ended in September brought the size of the Greek economy down to €43.54 billion ($59.65 billion).
The Greek economy has shrunk by more than 21% since it hit a peak in the third quarter of 2007.
And while you can argue that Greece’s pace of growth in the mid-2000s was never sustainable, you can’t ignore the dire implications of such a collapse for the Greek people. Household disposable income in the country is down by more than 22% over the last three years alone. As a result household consumption continues to plummet; it fell more than 8% in the third quarter.
