The World Bank's Doing Business Report compares roughly 190 countries in terms of competitiveness. Back in 2011, Greece ranked as Nr 109, the lowest ranked country in the Eurozone, in the EU and in Europe altogether.
There have been up's and down's since then but, overall, Greece improved its position significantly: the 2018 report ranks Greece as Nr 67. So much for the good news.
The not-so-good-news is that Greece is still behind everyone else in the Eurozone, in the EU and in Europe altogether. It pains particularly when seeing that Greece's neighbors outperform Greece: Albania (65), FYROM (11), Bulgaria (50) and Turkey (60).
There have been up's and down's since then but, overall, Greece improved its position significantly: the 2018 report ranks Greece as Nr 67. So much for the good news.
The not-so-good-news is that Greece is still behind everyone else in the Eurozone, in the EU and in Europe altogether. It pains particularly when seeing that Greece's neighbors outperform Greece: Albania (65), FYROM (11), Bulgaria (50) and Turkey (60).
Yes, it's a source of shame.
ReplyDeleteDean.
67 is not bad. Only 66 more positions till 1.
ReplyDeleteV
Happy Easter all.
And to add salt to injury, Greece is experiencing very slow growth rates of only 1.4% as compared to the other "Greek" economy of Cyprus which is improving at a 4% pace and with its(Cypriot) construction sector alone up 22%.
ReplyDeleteAnd Greece's response is?
"The signs for the Greek economy in figures, highlighted by the SAA, whose chairman is Deputy Finance Minister George Houliarakis, state that:
* In 2017 a high primary surplus of 3,7% of GDP was achieved or 5,93 billion euro.
* GDP grew by 1.9% in the fourth quarter last year and the economy grew for the second consecutive quarter, resulting in a 1.4% increase in GDP for the whole of 2017. All three credit rating agencies that have upgraded their creditworthiness (S & P and Fitch by one step, and Moody's two-tier) with positive prospects for fiscal developments forecast a 2% growth for the current year.
* Unemployment fell to 20.8%.
* Private deposits grew last year by 5.73 billion euros, which leads to a reduction in ELA's dependence on banks and the relaxation of capital controls according to planning.
* The current account deficit declined to € 1.45 billion in 2017, as travel receipts grew by 10.5% to € 14.6 billion.
The aim of the issue is to inform the decision-makers abroad (international organizations, finance ministries, banks, investment firms, rating agencies, etc.) about the current developments and prospects of the Greek economy. New versions are also expected with data updates each time."
https://www.dikaiologitika.gr/eidhseis/oikonomia/202061/i-elliniki-oikonomia-to-2017-se-arithmoys
Dean.
One of the areas Greece suffers the most, when it comes to generating new business, is its complete lack of ability to market/advertise itself. Case in point: Tsipras selected the remote island of Tilos for his Greek Easter vacation (Greek Easter falls a week later than Catholic Easter this year).
ReplyDeleteAs so happens Tilos is the recipient of an award winning, EU funded, energy self-sufficiency project as you can see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v47A12LFe48
So not a word of this (the energy potential) on Greek press and the symbolism of the PM's visit. Instead all that is reported in the Greek press is that the PM flew a commercial airline to Rhodes and then boarded a small coast guard vessel to arrive to Tilos (the inference being that the PM is wasting taxpayers money in using a coast guard vessel eventhough the coast guard in Greece has had several episodes with the turkish coast guard in the area and hence it needs some morale boosting).
So the bottom line here is Greece and the Greek society don't know how to promote and link business themes together. When it comes to food and cultural events of course they know the drill by heart. When it comes to business and economic development a torrent of negativity, pessimism and anti-economic sentiment prevails. This is why Greece has such a tremendous difficulty in attracting foreign capital. Because most and foremost it has no ability to promote and/or convince the outside world that is executing according to a competent plan.
And this is a huge disappointment for those of us who live outside Greece. To see a country with many shortcomings and lack of fluency in the basics.
Really sad to see.
Dean.