Nearly one in two, or 48 percent, of industrial units operating in Oinofyta, a key industrial zone northeast of Athens, consider the cost of energy as being their main business obstacle, a study conducted by market research company MRB on behalf of SEV, the Hellenic Association of Industrialists, has shown.

Oinofyta, home, until recently, to 380 small and medium-sized industries, has been hit particularly hard by the country’s ongoing economic crisis.

The cost of energy is presented as a lesser problem by industrial enterprises operating in other parts of Greece. A total of 34.5 percent of respondents in northern Greece named the energy cost factor as their main obstacle, while the figure was slightly higher, 36.1 percent, on the islands.

Small industrial units listed energy costs as their fifth biggest obstacle, while medium-sized operations ranked energy costs as their fourth biggest problem.

A total of 680 enterprises of all sizes taking part in the MRB study were asked to rate the difficulties caused by 13 pre-selected obstacles in their daily operations.

Overall, on a national level, the country’s inconsistent tax framework was listed as the main problem by 64.9 percent of respondents. It was followed by law excess and the vague institutional framework (46.8%); legal system delays (45.7%); lack of credit access/high borrowing costs (44.7%); lack of financing and investment incentives (41.2%); and high energy costs (34.5%).