3 in 10 companies founded during Greek debt crisis closed: study

ATHENS - Three out of 10 companies founded during the years of the financial crisis (2009-2018) did not survive, according to a study by the Athens-based Center of Planning and Economic Research, local newspaper "Kathimerini" reported on Monday.

According to Finance Ministry data, a total of 856,004 companies were founded during the crisis. By 2019 a total of 248,796 companies had closed.

The least affected, according to the study, were the so-called "one-euro companies", because they did not have a minimum capital requirement.

These companies, which started growing in numbers in 2012 after the introduction of a new law aimed to facilitate entrepreneurism in the country which lost a quarter of its GDP during the crisis, were the most resilient, the report noted.

Only 8.61 percent of this category of companies went under, compared to the overall failure rate of 29.03 percent.

A big wave of shutdowns started in 2016, with a new round of increases in social security contributions, as part of harsh austerity measures implemented to fill in fiscal gaps that made it hard to maintain companies.

A yet undetermined percentage of those companies went underground, operating in the black market, according to experts.

Greece exited the bailout era a year ago but is still bound by commitments to lenders to stay on the path of fiscal discipline and reforms to achieve sustainable economic growth.

The conservative government which took office after this July's national elections has pledged to gradually ease the burden of over taxation from the shoulders of households and businesses and support entrepreneurship to further reduce unemployment rates and boost growth.