Greece reverts back to a BARTER economy as global financial system unravels
Greece’s finances and its national economy have both deteriorated so dramatically that now average citizens are being forced to do something they haven’t had to do since the country was occupied by Nazi Germany: Barter for their basic needs and essentials.
As reported by Reuters, the rise in bartering comes amid a government-imposed cash squeeze stemming from an Athens-imposed three-week closure of the country’s banks on June 28. Since then government capital controls, put in place to avoid a run on banks, have limited the supply of cash in the hands of ordinary Greeks.
Reuters further reported:
Wild boar and power cuts were Greek cotton farmer Mimis Tsakanikas’ biggest worries until a bank shutdown last month left him stranded without cash to pay suppliers, and his customers without money to pay him.
Squeezed on all sides, the 41-year-old farmer began informal bartering to get around the cash crunch. He now pays some of his workers in kind with his clover crop and exchanges equipment with other farmers instead of buying or renting machinery.
‘It’s a nightmare’
Tsakanikas has become part of an expanding barter economy that many Greeks abhor because they see it as a step back from modern life, Reuters continued. However, many others are embracing it as a means to an end: Short-term economic survival.
When Tsakanikas rented a field in early August, he agreed he would pay for it with a portion of his clover crop.
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