SEV: Investments Crucial to Improving Greece’s Competitiveness

Athens, Greece. Photo: GTP

Greece could improve its competitiveness levels by consistently implementing structural reforms, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) said this week, noting that this would lead to a higher ranking on the World Economic Forum report.

More specifically, Greece can gain 17 positions, according to SEV, moving up from the current 59^th spot among 141 countries. Since 2015, Greece has dropped by 12 positions.

According to SEV analysts, Greece’s GDP-to-investment ratio is currently half of what it was before the crisis and at the lowest global level, which is held by countries in situations of war or bankruptcy.

Indicatively, business investment in 2018 came to 10 billion euros, accounting for 6 percent of GDP against the EU average of 13 percent.

At the same time, public and household investment came to 5 billion euros compared to the pre-crisis 14 billion euros and 21 billion euros, respectively.

The SEV report underlines the importance of not only attracting wide-ranging investments but accelerating reforms in order to improve the country’s competitiveness ranking, setting a target for 2021.

In terms of tourism competitiveness, Greece is ranked 25th among 140 countries in the WEF 2019 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness index released last month.