A significant improvement was recorded in the country’s Current Account Balance in the eleven months of January – November 2023 as its deficit decreased by 6.6 billion euros compared to the corresponding period of 2022 and amounted to 11.9 billion euros, according to data from Bank of Greece (BoG).

This development reflects the decrease in the deficit of the Balance of Goods as at current prices, exports decreased by 7.0% (2.8% at constant prices) and imports by 12.1% (4.2% at constant prices). In particular, at current prices, exports of non-fuel goods showed a slight decrease of 1.2%, while the corresponding imports decreased by 2.2% (5.2% and 3.5% at constant prices respectively).

The services surplus widened, primarily due to the improvement in the travel balance and secondarily the balance of other services, which was partially offset by the deterioration of the transport balance. In relation to the corresponding period of 2022, the non-resident traveler arrivals increased by 17.3% and related receipts by 15.4%.

The overall current and capital account deficit (which corresponds to the economy’s needs for foreign financing) decreased to 10.1 billion Euros.

In the Balance of Financial Transactions in the category of direct investments, the claims of residents vis-à-vis abroad increased by 3.5 billion euros and the liabilities of residents vis-a-vis abroad, which correspond to direct investments by non-residents in Greece, recorded an increase of 4, 6 billion euros.

In portfolio investments, the increase in residents’ claims against abroad is almost entirely due to the 2.9 billion euro increase in residents’ placements in foreign bonds and interest-bearing bonds. The increase in their liabilities mainly reflects the €4.3 billion increase in non-residents’ positions in Greek bonds and interest-bearing notes and secondarily the €1.3 billion increase in their positions in Greek stocks.