KELOWNA – The Okanagan Greek community is watching what happens in their homeland very closely.
“I’ve got family there that, they go to work, they’ve got a job but they don’t get paid consistently, they don’t want to give up that job because that little bit that they get every now and then is better than getting nothing,” says Kelowna business owner Mike Koutsantonis, co-owner of Olympia Greek Taverna.
Greeks will vote on Sunday in a referendum on whether to back more spending cuts, more tax increases and more negotiations with European creditors. A rejection could trigger a Greek exit from the Eurozone, and occasional closures of banks in the last week have deepened anxieties for many citizens.
“They have no money to pay those pensions and keep those hospitals running,” says Koutsantonis. “There’s just no money there.”
What does this mean for Canadians? Financial commentator for CKNW radio Robert Levy says we’ve already been impacted.
“The fact that we have a crisis developing in Greece, it means a strong U.S. dollar which affects inflation in this country and it affects decision making of the Bank of Canada,” explains Levy. “Part of the reason we see interest rates on hold in the moment is because of what’s going on around the world and you can very much tie Greece into that.”
With no idea how things will go on Sunday in what could be the most important vote in Greece’s modern history, the Okanagan Greek community is watching very closely.
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