“Tourists are betting on Greece, investors too” is the title of an article in the Belgian newspaper L’Echo.
As the article points out, “Despite the fires, the Greek economy continues to recover”, while the article states that “the Greek economy seems as resilient as the Hydra. No matter how many heads were cut off by this well-known beast of Greek mythology with many heads, they always ended up growing back. Similarly, Greece has in recent years regained much of what it lost during the debt crisis of the early 2010s, which is increasingly whetting the appetites of investors.”
The article also notes that the Greek budget deficit jumped to more than 13% ten years ago. Last year, it was only 2.3%, despite the aid provided during the pandemic and, in parallel, in relation to growth, he underlines that “while the Greek economy contracted by more than 9% in 2011 and then continued to decline, it has recorded growth rates of more than 6% in the last two years”. Echo places particular emphasis on tourism, noting that “in May Greek tourism revenues reached 1.75 billion euros, compared to 1.4 billion a year earlier, according to data published at the end of July by the Bank of Greece”.
In addition, it stressed that the economic recovery experienced by Greece is such that the rating agencies could soon restore the country to investment grade. “All that would be needed for this is for Fitch and S&P to raise by one notch the rating they assign to the Greek state. The parliamentary elections in June, which cemented Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as the country’s leader, provide political stability that could encourage these financial rating agencies to make this reassessment. The head of state promises to continue to implement reforms favourable to Greece’s economic growth,” the newspaper said.
Finally, it notes that “it remains to be hoped, for the Greek economy, that the violent fires currently affecting the country and the closure of some iconic tourist sites due to excessive heat will not hinder its recovery.”