2023-10-04 12:05:00
More foreign direct investment (FDI)more qualitative in the sense mainly of greater added value and, most importantly, with continuity, as several of the foreign companies located here plan new investments next year, shows the research for the attractiveness of Greece as an investment destination (EY Attractiveness Survey Greece 2023) which was presented yesterday by the managing director of EY Greece George Papadimitriouduring his 6th Invest GR Forum: Staying the Course.
According to the EY European Investment Monitor, an extensive database processed by EY, in 2022 there were 47 foreign direct investments in Greece, compared to 30 in 2021. This figure ranks Greece – for the first time – in the first twenty among the 48 countries monitored by the survey and is by far the best performance since 2000, when this survey began to be carried out. Cumulatively, the investments of the last three years represent 35% of the total investments made in the last 23 years. However, as pointed out in the research, the FDI made in Greece still represents only 0.79% of the total investments in Europe. “It is clear that in order for Greece to secure its rightful position in European investment map and cover it investment gap of the last two decades, the current rate of growth must be maintained and, ideally, intensified in the coming years”, emphasizes EY.
There is also a continued improvement in the qualitative composition of investment, with greater dispersion across more activities and a significant proportion directed to knowledge-intensive activities with relatively high added value and to sectors such as software and IT services, which can play an important role in change of the productive model of the economy.
According to the research of EY, held with the participation of 250 executives of foreign companies from all over the world, two out of five companies (40%) plan to invest or expand their activities in our country during the next year. This percentage has been steadily increasing over the past three years, from 28% in 2020 to 34% in 2021 and 37% in 2022.
Two out of three participants (67%) believe that the attractiveness of Greece will improve further over the next three years, with 5% expecting a significant improvement, while 9% of respondents expect a slight decrease and 2% a significant decrease. This picture is in line with the findings for Europe as a whole (67% expect an improvement and 8% a decrease) and is by far the most optimistic among the individual countries under comparison surveyed this year. However, the percentage of positive statements (67%) has decreased compared to 2022 (75%).
As for the most important risks that could threaten Greece’s overall attractiveness as an investment destination, survey participants cited rising inflation (28%), the energy crisis (23%), social and economic instability (21%) and the labor cost (20%).
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