French retailer Carrefour to pull out of Greece

French retailer Carrefour has announced it is pulling out of Greece, selling the Greek arm of its supermarket operation to the Marinopoulos group.

The FT reported Carrefour's new chief executive Georges Plasset brokered the sale which will result in a loss of €220 million. According to Reuters, Carrefour is the second largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart, but the economic crisis in Greece resulted in a loss of €40 million last year. Despite that Greek consumers are paying a premium at the checkout with supermarket prices rising an average of 18 percent, according to Ta Nea. They note that even when international prices fall, supermarkets in Greece fail to pass the savings on to debt ridden Greeks. Escalating fuel prices have also resulted in increased transportation costs, in addition to higher prices for gas and electricity.