GDP shoots up 16.2% year-on-year in second quarter

Greece’s economy performed much better than expected in the second quarter of the year, with gross domestic product rising by 3.4% against the first three months of 2021 and jumping 16.4% from April-June 2020, provisional data published by the country’s statistics agency, ELSTAT, showed on Tuesday.

The data “reflect the impact on GDP of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restriction measures that were put into place,” ELSTAT said in its report.

According to ELSTAT’s revised data for the first quarter of 2021, GDP rose by 4.5% against the same period in 2020, driven by consumption, exports and investments.

On Monday, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras had said that the rate of growth for the first half of this year is expected at around 7%, with the annual rise seen higher than the initial estimate of 3.6%.

Tuesday’s figures are expected to give the government some more leeway for tax cuts and other relief measures for struggling households and businesses.