Greek economy to grow by more than 2.0 pct in 2019-2020, Commission says




The Greek economy continues growing, with the real GDP expected to grow by 2.0 pct in 2018, 2.2 pct in 2019 and 2.3 pct in 2020, the European Commission said in its interim economic forecasts released on Thursday.

The Commission’s forecasts for economic growth in 2019 and 2020 are slightly revised upwards compared with its previous estimates made in autumn 2018.

It also noted that Greek economic growth will remain above 2.0 pct in the coming years, although it stressed that economic recovery highly depended on the continuation of reforms. “Exploiting surplus productive capability and taking advantage of strong external demand, Greece managed to raise its market shares in global trade. Net exports became the main growth tool in the first three quarters of 2018 and (probably) for the whole year,” the Commission said.

It added that a significant driving force behind total demand was an increase in private consumption, supported by an increase in employment.

Investments remained subdued compared with 2017, while investments in real estate property grew throughout the year. The EU executive’s agency said that consumer confidence has returned almost to levels seen before the crisis and private consumption was expected to remain the basic fact for economic growth in 2019.

However, the Commission noted that an increase in exports was expected to slow down, as growth in the tourism sector slows down because of the return of competition from Turkey. Exports of goods are also expected to weaken, but remain on a growth course despite an economic slowdown in the European Union.

The Greek labour market is improving steadily with the unemployment rate falling to 18.6 pct in October 2018, from 21 pct a year earlier. Employment grew by 1.5 pct in the first three quarters of 2018, evidence of improvement in labour productivity.

The Commission said that the inflation rate was 0.8 pct in 2018 and was expected to remain around this level in 2019, due to subdued energy prices, before rising to 1.3 pct in 2020.

Source: ANA-MPA

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