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Athens - The economic crisis forced the closure of thousands of businesses' and as elections approach those left standing are wary of the future.
Rearranging jewellery in her shop window in central Athens, Emila Tsinias, 38, believed she had weathered the storm after watching businesses close one after another on her street during the economic crisis. Today, nearly a week before snap general elections, the future has become uncertain yet again.
Tsinias has seen her sales drop by 45% since the start of the debt crisis in 2010 that prompted the government to increase taxes and cut the minimum wage by one-third in return for billions in international aid.
The measures, which Tsinias says forced her to pay 40% more in additional taxes, have cut into her profit margin and decreased consumer demand.
National retail sales over the Christmas holiday saw turnover plunge €500m compared to last year as the problem of disposable incomes was intensified by the country's current political uncertainty, according to the National Confederation of Entrepreneurship and Commerce (Esee).
Sitting in her empty shop, Tsinias is already feeling the effect.
"This is the winter sales period but do you see any customers in my shop? Well I do not," she says as she adjusts a banner advertising a 20-per-cent discount.
"The situation was bad enough without new elections being called. No one wants to spend money that they do not have and especially now when we do not even know who will be running the country and what new measures they will implement," she adds.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, whose ruling conservative New Democracy party has campaigned on continued austerity and budget discipline in return for gradual economic recovery, has warned that Greece could be forced out of the Eurozone should the radical left Syriza party win.
Latest opinion polls have put Syriza to be leading over New Democracy by at least three per cent. Its leader, Alexis Tsipras, has called for a write-down of the country's debt, promised to roll back austerity measures, restore social benefits, renegotiate the terms of the country's bailout agreement and bump up the minimum wage by 50% to €750.
Some employers like Stefanos Maniakos who runs a travel agency in central Athens, and is among thousands of small and medium-sized businesses that have reduced salaries in an attempt to cut-down on costs to stay afloat, insists the suggestion is suicidal.
"It was a miracle that I even survived the crisis and this is because my staff agreed to accept a drop in salary to minimum wage levels - now I am afraid what will happen if Syriza comes to power."
In a pre-election speech, Samaras said he would introduce "significant" tax cuts if his party remains in power, including reducing corporate tax to a flat rate of 15% from 26% as well as making a tax concession for small businesses with a turnover of less than €20 000. He also promised to create 770 000 jobs in the areas of tourism and agriculture.
"The pressure on businesses must be eased. ... The failure to ease the tax burden on small and medium-sized firms would also lead more robust companies toward dangerous territory," said Esee leader Korkidis.
"Another problem is that since the start of the economic crisis, credit basically dried up for tens of thousands of businesses' as banks grew wary of lending money out," he adds.
More than 130 000 commercial enterprises have shut their doors during the six-year economic crisis while another 575 000 small and medium-sized enterprises were forced out of business, according to data released by Esee. At least another 230 000 positions, including self-employed and salaried workers disappeared from the sector.
Tsinias insists that while reduced taxes would help her business stay alive, she has little hope that anything worthwhile will actually materialize following the vote.
"Everyone is making false promises that at the end of the day they will not be able to keep."
Eurozone leaders, including German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble have said they will not concede to a radical Greek government looking to scrap the terms of the existing bailout.
"The election won't change the basic conditions," Schaeuble said in a recent interview with Germany's N-24 television.
"Whichever government it is, whoever wins the election must see that Greece - with a lot of solidarity from Europe - will continue on this path, a lot of progress has been made."
