As optimism grows for the Greek economy with an expected 4 billion euros in investment for 2017, Greece still lags as the latest data from the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggest.
According to their recent World Competitiveness Report, Greece was placed 87th in the international ranking, lower compared to 2016, giving way to multiple criticisms of the country's ability to attract investments and return to growth.
Greece’s Economy Ministry however challenged the estimate by the WEF and noted that it will be checking using their methodology.
All economic indicators as well as economic activity rose in the last three months and as a result GDP growth is expected to be higher in the third quarter and set to meet the annual growth target of 1.8 pct in 2017, it added.
The business confidence index in Greece increased to 100.6 points in September from 99.0 in August 2017. The average rate was 100.7 points between 1985 to 2017, reaching a high level of 120.1 points in July 2000 and a low of 75.2 points in March 2009.
The Greek PMI rose to 52.8 points in September 2017 from 52.2 points in August. This is the largest expansion of manufacture since June 2008 due to the growth of domestic orders although new export orders have declined. In addition, production increased to a nine-year record, in terms of consumer and capital goods, while there was a decrease in intermediate goods.
Private productive investments rose 161 pct in the seven-month period of 2017 (January-July) compared to 40 pct in the corresponding period of 2016. "Based on the seven-month period performance and the overall performance of FDI in previous years, it is estimated that FDI will exceed 4 billion euros in 2017," as noted in the bulletin.
