Greece is a developed country with an economy based on the service (80%) and industrialsectors (16%), with the agricultural sector contributing an estimated 4% of national economic output in 2017.[1] Important Greek industries include tourism and shipping. With 31.3 million international tourists in 2019, Greece was the 7th most visited country in the European Union and 13th in the world.[41] marking a steady increase from 18 million tourists in 2013.[42] The Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, with Greek-owned vessels accounting for 21% of global deadweight tonnage as of 2021; The total capacity of the Greek-owned fleet has increased by 45.8% compared to 2014.[43][44] The increased demand for international maritime transportation between Greece and Asia has resulted in unprecedented investment in the shipping industry.[45]
The country is a significant agricultural producer within the EU. Greece has the largest economy in the Balkans and is an important regional investor.[46][47] Greece was the largest foreign investor in Albania in 2013,[48] the third in Bulgaria, in the top-three in Romania and Serbia and the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor in North Macedonia.[49][50][51] The Greek telecommunications company OTE has become a strong investor in certain former Yugoslav and other Balkan countries.[49]
World War II (1939–1945) devastated the country's economy, but the high levels of economic growth that followed from 1950 to 1980 have been called the Greek economic miracle.[56] From 2000 Greece saw high levels of GDP growth above the Eurozone average, peaking at 5.8% in 2003, 5.4% in 2004 and 6.4% in 2006.[57] The subsequent Great Recession and Greek government-debt crisis, a central focus of the wider European debt crisis, plunged the economy into a sharp downturn, with real GDP growth rates of −4.1% in 2009, −5.7% in 2010, −9.9% in 2011, −8.3% in 2012 and −2.3% in 2013.[57] In 2011, the country's public debt reached €356 billion (172% of nominal GDP).[58] After negotiating the biggest debt restructuring in history with the private sector, which sustained losses in the order of €100 billion for private bond investors,[59] Greece reduced its sovereign debt burden to €280 billion (137% of GDP) in the first quarter of 2012.[60] Greece achieved a real GDP growth rate of 0.8% in 2014—after five consecutive years of economic decline—but the economy contracted by 0.2% in 2015 and recorded zero growth in 2016.[57][61] The country returned to modest growth rates of 1.5% in 2017, 2.1% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019.[57] GDP contracted by 9.2% in 2020 during the global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[57] However, the economy rebounded by 8.7% in 2021, 5.7% in 2022 and 2.3% in 2023.[57] On 20 August 2022, Greece formally exited the EU's "enhanced surveillance framework", which had been in place since the conclusion of the third bailout programme exactly four years earlier.[62] According to Prime MinisterKyriakos Mitsotakis, the event heralded "greater national leeway in our economic choices" and marked the end of a "12-year cycle that brought pain to citizens".[62] On 2 December 2022, Berlin-based credit rating agency Scope assigned a positive outlook to Greece's BB+ rating, presaging the country's return to investment grade.[63] On 31 July 2023, Greece's investment-grade status was restored by Japanese credit rating agency R&I.[33][64] Scope, DBRS, S&P and Fitch followed suit on 4 August, 8 September, 20 October and 1 December respectively.[65][66][30][67][68][31][69]The Economist ranked Greece the world's top economic performer for 2022 and 2023, citing significant improvements in five key economic and financial indicators.[70][71]Tourism reached an all-time record in 2023, with approximately 32 million tourists making Greece one of the most visited countries in the world.[72]
Peter Haggett (2002). Encyclopedia of World Geography: Italy. Marshall Cavendish. p. 1470. ISBN978-0-7614-7300-8. Retrieved 14 April 2013. The Greek shipping industry, one of the largest in the world, accounts for more than 30 percent of the income derived from services. It is exempt from government control, unlike other
Jill Dubois; Xenia Skoura; Olga Gratsaniti (2003). Greece. Marshall Cavendish. p. 42. ISBN978-0-7614-1499-5. Greek ships make up 70 percent of the European Union's total merchant fleet. Greece has a large shipbuilding and ship refitting industry. Its six shipyards near Piraeus are among the biggest in Europe. As Greek ships primarily transport ...
Tullio Treves; Pineshi (1997). The Law of the Sea: The European Union and Its Member States. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 239–240. ISBN978-90-411-0326-0. The Shipping Industry The shipping industry (the transport of persons and goods by sea) constitutes one of the most important factors for the Greek society and economy
Athanasios A. Pallis (2007). Maritime Transport: The Greek Paradigm. Elsevier. p. 175. ISBN978-0-7623-1449-2. Since Greek shipping ranks on top of world shipping business in terms of tonnage and volume, it is of interest to have a closer look at Greek shipping finance.
^ abCite error: The named reference ELSTAT trade was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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^Keridis, Dimitris (3 March 2006), Greece and the Balkans: From Stabilization to Growth (lecture), Montreal, QC, CA: Hellenic Studies Unit at Concordia University, Greece has a larger economy than all the Balkan countries combined. Greece is also an important regional investor
^ abImogen Bell (2002). Central and South-Eastern Europe: 2003. Routledge. p. 282. ISBN978-1-85743-136-0. Retrieved 27 May 2013. Greece has become the largest investor into Macedonia (FYRM), while Greek companies such as OTE have also developed strong presences in former Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries.
^Mustafa Aydin; Kostas Ifantis (28 February 2004). Turkish-Greek Relations: The Security Dilemma in the Aegean. Taylor & Francis. pp. 266–267. ISBN978-0-203-50191-7. Retrieved 27 May 2013. second largest investor of foreign capital in Albania, and the third largest foreign investor in Bulgaria. Greece is the most important trading partner of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
^Wayne C. Thompson (9 August 2012). Western Europe 2012. Stryker Post. p. 283. ISBN978-1-61048-898-3. Retrieved 27 May 2013. Greeks are already among the three largest investors in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, and overall Greek investment in the ... Its banking sector represents 16% of banking activities in the region, and Greek banks open a new branch in a Balkan country almost weekly.