FDI jumps to 5 bln euros in Greece in 2021

Inflows of foreign direct investment in 2021 approached 5 billion euros in Greece, the largest inflow of FDI since 2002, the secretary general for international economic relations and openness and president of Enterprise Greece, Ioannis Smyrlis, said during his speech at The Economist conference.

In this context, he referred to the spike in strategic investments between July 2019 and October 2021, with approved investment plans exceeding €8 billion, while in the period February 2015 – July 2019, they had amounted to just €1.3 billion.

Smyrlis stressed the importance of economic diplomacy, referring to the structural reforms implemented by the Foreign Ministry and the tools provided to exporters in order to strengthen the export profile of Greek companies, so that they can play a leading role in international markets.

“The year 2021 was a milestone for Greek exports, which set a record of €40 billion, corresponding to 22% of GDP,” he explained, pointing out that “for the first seven months of 2022, we saw our exports show an increase of almost of 40% compared to the same period last year.”