The Greek economy grew by 16.2 pct in the second quarter of 2021 compared with the same period last year, with the country's GDP rising 3.4 pct compared with the first quarter of the year, led by consumption, private investments and exports, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Tuesday.
The Greek GDP fell 2.3 pct in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2020 and grew by around 7 pct in the first half of the year.
Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, commenting on the data, said that the provisional figures for the second quarter would lead to higher GDP growth rate this year compared with initial estimates of 3.6 pct and noted that the economy will quickly regain losses suffered by the pandemic, while households' available income will improve significantly and the Greek economy will grow further for the benefit of all citizens.
More specifically, the statistics service said that final consumption spending grew 12.1 pct in the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2020 (households consumption up 13.2 pct and general government consumption up 6.1 pct).
Private investments (gross fixed capital investments) rose 12.9 pct, exports of goods and services were up 22.6 pct (exports of goods up 17.1 pct and exports of services up 28.8 pct). Imports of goods and services rose 22.5 pct (imports of goods up 19.7 pct and imports of services up 35.2 pct).
On a quarterly basis, final consumption spending was up 0.2 pct (household comsumption down 0.4 pct and general government consumption down 0.7 pct), private investments grew 4.3 pct, exports of goods and services rose 2.9 pct (goods up 2.9 pct and services up 0.8 pct) while imports of goods and services rose 5 pct (goods up 3.8 pct and services up 19.8 pct).
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