Strategic Advantages

In 2024 the Greek economy achieved a growth rate of 2.3% as the GDP at current prices reached 237.6 billion Euros. Along with the increase in GDP, there was a decrease in the annual average unemployment rate (from 11.1% in 2023 to 10.1% in 2024) as well as in the annual average inflation (from 3.5% in 2023 to 2.7% in 2024), as shown in the table below.

Main Economic Indicators for Greece 2020-2024

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
GDP prices of reference year 2020 (% change)	-9.2%	8.7%	5.7%	2.3%	2.3%
GDP at current prices (% change)	-9.5%	10.2%	12.6%	8.3%	5.5%
GDP at current prices (billion euros)	167.5	184.6	207.9	225.2	237.6
Inflation (annual average)	-1.2%	1.2%	9.6%	3.5%	2.7%
Labour productivity	-6.0%	4.1%	11.2%	5.9%	3.5%
Unemployment rate (annual average)	16.3%	14.7%	12.4%	11.1%	10.1%
Investments (% GDP)	12.3	13.8	14.9	15.2	–
Private sector (% GDP)	9.2	10.2	11.2	11.3	–
General Government (% GDP)	3.1	3.6	3.7	3.9	–
Exports of goods at current prices (billion euros) *	30.80	40.32	55.76	51.02	49.90
Imports of goods at current prices (billion euros) *	48.92	65.83	94.55	83.09	84.52

Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority * Provisional data

According to the latest available data from the Bank of Greece, (net) inflows of Foreign Direct Investment in Greece for the year 2024 reached 6.7 billion euros (6,749 million euros), compared to 4.8 billion (4,775 million euros) for the year 2023, an increase of 41.3%.

Net FDI inflows into Greece during the period 2014-2024 (in million euros)

Source: Bank of Greece. 2023, 2024 provisional data

Countries of origin of investment funds

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

Net FDI inflows by country of origin of funds during the period 2014-2024 (cumulative in million euros, top 10 Countries)

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023, 2024 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, 5 are EU countries.
• For the period 2014-2024 Greece attracted net FDI inflows of 33.3 billion euros from the top 10 countries compared to 44.3 billion euros from all countries (a percentage of 75.2%).
• The top 10 countries investing in Greece during the 2014-2024 period also include non-EU countries, such as Switzerland, China (including Hong Kong), USA, Canada and UAE, 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 2014-2024 (%)

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023, 2024 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 2014 to 2024, net FDI inflows in the primary and secondary sectors amounted to only 6.8 billion euros out of a total of 44.3 billion euros.

In particular:

Α. Manufacturing

The manufacturing sectors with the most significant investment interest during the period 2014-2024 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 2014-2024 (%)

Source: Bank of Greece, data processed by Enterprise Greece. 2023, 2024 provisional data

Main characteristics:

• The manufacturing sectors with the most significant investment interest during the period 2014-2024 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 2014-2024, representing 77% of the total, include “financial and insurance activities”, “real estate activities” (especially in recent years) 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 6.1 billion euros in the period 2014-2024.

Structure of net FDI inflows in services during the period 2014-2024 (%)