Greece’s economy expanded robustlyin the second quarter as strong tourism and investment revenues offset a decline in goodsexports, data showed on Wednesday.
Seasonally-adjusted data showed gross domestic product increased by 1.3% in the April-June period, from an upwardly revised zero growth in the first quarter of 2023.
Household expenditure rose by 0.2% in the second quarter from the previous quarter, investment by 0.3% and exports of services, which include tourism revenues, by 1.4%, data from the country’s statistics service (ELSTAT) showed.
“Greece is among the top performers in the eurozone on the back of strong household consumption and investment growth bolstered by buoyant tourism services,” said National Bank’s senior economist Nikos Magginas.
Tourism accounts for about a quarter of Greece’s economic output and the government said last week that data so far indicated that tourism revenues would risemore than 10% this year.
Exports of goods dropped by 9.8% in the second quarter due to weakening economic sentiment in the eurozone as a result of monetary tightening and high inflation.
On a year-on-year basis, Greece’s economy expanded by 2.7% from a downwardly revised 2.0% in the first three months of the year.
The government expects growth to slow to 2.3% this year from 5.9% in 2022, but still outpacing the euro zone’s average of about 0.6%.
“The current trajectory bodes well for full year growth higher than the official projection,” Magginas said.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
