ATHENS: Last year, Eirini Syntihaki was renting an apartment she loved in central Athens near friends, work and the city’s many streetside cafes.
Then a few months ago, her flatmate moved out and lawyers representing the apartment’s Chinese owners said they planned to raise the rent, which was already 700 euros — nearly Syntihaki’s entire earnings. “With pain in my heart, I’m leaving a home I really love, the area, the house itself, the memories,” the 28-year-old criminologist said as she packed her belongings before moving in with her sister. “I knew I had to leave to survive.”
Greece’s economy is rebounding sharply from its 2009-2018 financial crisis. Growth outstrips the EU average, the country is repaying its bailout loans ahead of schedule and tourist visits are at a record high.
Amid the recovery, however, many Greeks are being left behind as rents soar and earnings fail to keep pace, forcing them to spend less on items such as heating, entertainment or dining and take on more debt. That is creating a drag on Greece’s economic recovery, experts said.
“Income adequacy is at a record low, with six out of ten households reporting that their monthly income does not reach the end of the month,” Greece’s Small Enterprise Institute (IME), a confederation of small businesses, said in a report.
