Revenues from service exports contributed to Greek economy’s growth in H1

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Increased revenues from tourism and other service exports overshadowed the decline in product exports in the first half of 2024, contributing to the growth of the Greek economy.

According to data from the Bank of Greece on the balance of payments, revenues from tourism increased by 755 million euros to 6.9 billion euros compared to the first half of 2023. Overall, receipts from exports of services – which include transport, dominated by shipping foreign exchange – rose by almost 1.5 billion euros to 7.2 billion eyros , while exports of goods fell by 743 million euros to 24.7 billion euros.

This highlights the increasingly important role of tourism and overall intangible resources for the development of the Greek economy, even at a time when the Eurozone economy is stagnant. These conditions have contributed to the decline of Greek product exports after their impressive jump in the two years 2021-2022, when they almost doubled, reaching 53.8 billion euros from 28.9 billion euros in 2020 (in 2019, before the coronavirus, amounted to 32.4 billion euros).

Earnings from service exports amounted to 87% of product exports compared to 78% in the first half of 2023. Given that tourism receipts are usually double in the second half of the year – as the majority of tourists come in July and August – this figure is expected to be significantly higher for the year as a whole and likely to exceed 100%. Indicatively, last year the corresponding percentage reached 99.3%.

Exports of goods fell in the first half of the year by more in constant prices than in current prices (by 5.9% vs. 2.9%), indicating an increase in their prices of about 3%. In contrast, product imports rose 3.4% at current prices to 42.2 billion euros and by 3.8% in constant prices, which means that their prices were slightly lower than in the first half of 2023.

Source: ANA-MPA