Foreign Direct Investments

<

Greece Today enWhy Greece enForeign Direct Investments

According to the latest available data from the Bank of Greece, (net) inflows of Foreign Direct Investment in Greece for the year 2023 reached 4.8 billion euros (4,775 million euros), compared to 8 billion (8,026 million euros) for the year 2022.

Net FDI inflows into Greece during the period 2013-2023 (in million euros)

Picture6

Source: Bank of Greece, 2023 provisional data

Countries of origin of investment funds

Investment activity in the country during the last decade has mainly originated from countries such as Cyprus, Luxembourg and Switzerland, followed by Germany and the Netherlands. The top 10 list of investing countries is filled out by China (including Hong Kong), which has significantly strengthened its position in recent years, USA, Canada, Italy and France.

Net FDI inflows by country of origin of funds during the period 2013-2023 (cumulative in million euros, top 10 Countries)

Picture7

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023 provisional data

Main characteristics:

  • Foreign investment activity in Greece originates mainly from companies in major markets, such as the EU. Among the top 10 countries with the highest value of net FDI inflows, 6 are EU countries.
  • For the period 2013-2023 Greece attracted net FDI inflows of 32.1 billion euros from the top 10 countries compared to 39.7 billion euros from all countries (a percentage of 80.8%).
  • The top 10 countries investing in Greece during the last decade also include non-EU countries, such as Switzerland, China (including Hong Kong), USA and Canada, all of whom have significantly increased their investment presence in recent years.

 

Allocation of Foreign Direct Investment by sector

Net FDI inflows in Greece are concentrated mainly in the tertiary sector in recent years, followed by the secondary sector by a significant margin. The majority of developed countries have a similar FDI structure.

Net FDI inflows by sector of economic activity during the period 2013-2023 (%)

FDI8

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023 provisional data

Main characteristics:

  • The concentration of FDI in services, especially real estate management, financial and insurance activities and storage and transportation activities.
  • The percentage of the secondary sector is relatively low compared to the country’s potential, which indicates significant investment opportunities. The same applies to the primary sector, with very small FDI rates, in a country like Greece with competitive advantages for this sector. It is noted that for a period of 11 years, from 2013 to 2023, net FDI inflows in the primary and secondary sectors amounted to only 6.5 billion euros out of a total of 39.7 billion euros.

In particular:

Α. Manufacturing

The manufacturing sectors with the most significant investment interest during the period 2013-2023 were “food, beverages, tobacco”, “coke and refined petroleum products” and “pharmaceuticals”, and to a lesser extent “electronic and optical products and computers”, “manufacture of wood and paper, printing and reproduction” and “chemicals”.

Structure of net FDI inflows in manufacturing during the period 2013-2023 (%)

FDI9

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023 provisional data

Main characteristics:

  • The manufacturing sectors with the most significant investment interest during the period 2013-2023 are “food, beverages, tobacco”, “coke and refined petroleum products” and “pharmaceuticals”. Other industries that gather significant FDI inflows in manufacturing are “electronic and optical products and computers”, “manufacture of wood and paper, printing and reproduction” and “chemicals”.
  • The concentration of business activity in the above sectors favors both the establishment of new companies (Greenfield investments) in Greece, as well as the investment cooperation of foreign with Greek companies for the manufacturing of products that meet the needs of the internal and also the international market.

Β. Services

The services sectors with significant investment interest during the period 2013-2023, representing 70% of the total, include “real estate activities” (especially in recent years), “financial and insurance activities” and “transportation and storage activities”.

It is worth noting that the “real estate activities” category does not include in the figure below (according to the Bank of Greece’s categorization) the private purchases and sales of properties, which cumulatively reached 5.3 billion euros in the period 2013-2023.

Structure of net FDI inflows in services during the period 2013-2023 (%)

FDI10

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023 provisional data