Investment plans shelved due to coronavirus, survey finds

About two-fifths (39%) of firms in Greece expect to invest less in the current financial year due to Covid-19, compared to a mean rate of 45% in the European Union, according to a survey by the European Investment Bank Group published on Thursday.

More than half (55%) of Greek companies expect to invest broadly the same, and only 5% expect to invest more, the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS) found.

Similar proportions are found across all four sectors and size classes of firms.

Three in 10 firms (30%) with investment plans in the current financial year report that they will abandon or delay at least some of them due to Covid-19. This is in line with the EU average (35%).

Around one in eight (12%) firms with investment plans say they will continue with at least some of those plans but at a reduced scale or scope.

One-third of firms expect an impact on their service or product portfolio (37%) and their supply chain (35%) and also foresee the increased use of digital technologies (32%) as a long-term impact.

Seven in 10 firms say they invested about the right amount over the last three years (71%), below the EU average (80%), and 62% of firms were operating at or above maximum capacity in 2019, up from 53% in EIBIS 2019.