While foreign direct investment (FDI) in Europe is declining, the attractiveness of Greece as an investment destination continues to strengthen. 51% of the respondents who participated in the sixth edition of the annual major survey of EY Greece, EY Attractiveness Survey Greece 2024, plan to develop or expand their activities in Greece during the next year, while 69% estimate that the attractiveness of Greece will improve further in the next three years. This year’s edition of the EY Greece survey was conducted by FT Longitude, with the participation of 250 executives from foreign companies, between March 8 and April 4, 2024. The survey findings were presented by the managing director of EY Greece, George Papadimitriou, at the opening session of the 7th Invest GR Forum 2024: Charting the Future, which took place today, Wednesday July 17, in Athens.

According to the EY European Investment Monitor (EIM), an extensive database that tracks investments in greenfield projects, in 2023, 50 FDI were carried out in our country, compared to 47 in 2022, ranking Greece in 19th place among the 45 countries of the survey. Cumulatively, investments in the past two and three years represent, respectively, 25% and 33% of the investments recorded by the survey since its inception in 2000.

This year’s survey also confirms the tendency to improve the qualitative composition of investments, with the emphasis shifting to knowledge-intensive activities and high added value and sectors critical to changing the productive model of the economy, such as software and IT services (24 %), professional and business services (16%), and transport and logistics (16%).

One in two respondents (51%) stated that their company plans to develop or expand its operations in Greece during the next year. This is the highest performance of the country in this critical indicator, which in the first year of conducting the survey for Greece, in 2019, was at 30%. Among very large companies (revenues of more than Euro 1.5 billion), the percentage is even higher (65%), while among companies already established in Greece it reaches 70%.

The investment plans of these companies mainly cover business services (66%), sales and marketing offices (55%), and research and development (51%). As the main reason for the creation of new or the expansion of existing activities by these companies, access to skills (41%) emerges.

As the main risks for the attractiveness of the country in the next three years, the participants mentioned high interest rates and restrictive financial conditions (44%), the amount of public debt and its effects on taxation (34%) and high inflation (32% ).

62% of respondents (up from 60% last year and 47% in 2019), said that in the last year their view of Greece has improved, as a place where their business could develop or expand its activities.

An even larger percentage (69%, up from 67% last year) estimates that the country’s attractiveness will improve further in the next three years. They attribute this optimism mainly to the quality of the infrastructure (42%), the country’s strategic geographical position (35%) and the existence of a strong agenda for sustainable development (34%). Conversely, the 13% of respondents who expect the country’s attractiveness to deteriorate, attribute this to uncertainty about the political and regulatory environment (48%), a lack of skilled manpower (45%), and a shrinking market (39%). . Overall, 79% of participants, compared to 76% in 2023, described the country’s attractiveness policy as effective in attracting international investors. In 2019, the first year of conducting the research, this percentage was 50%, a finding that suggests that businesses associate the improvement of the country’s image as a potential investment destination with the exercise of an effective policy.

Regarding the individual aspects of the country’s policy to enhance its attractiveness, the best performances are recorded in attracting business (72%), attracting innovative activities (71%) and attracting human talent (68%). Lower ranked are attracting capital (63%) and attracting corporate headquarters (58%), and creating centers of competitiveness and global hubs (52%). It is noted that three of these indicators have fallen slightly compared to last year, however all are significantly improved compared to the first year of the survey, in 2019, when no one exceeded 50%.

The survey participants also rated Greece based on a series of criteria linked to the most critical factors influencing investment decisions today: sustainable development, electricity, technology, human resources and taxation.

For four of these five thematic areas, the overall picture that emerges for the country can be characterized as satisfactory, with more than half of the respondents rating the performance in all individual aspects of each area as “good” or “very good”. , and the average of positive responses to be between 61% and 63%. An exception is the section on taxation, where the average of positive responses is 53%.

In an adverse environment for Europe, Greece managed to improve its performance, both in terms of the number of investments it attracted and in terms of its image in the investment community. At the same time, however, the research also highlights points of lagging behind competing countries, many of which are moving at an even faster pace, while, in the battle to attract investment, Greece is starting from a lower starting point.

For example, the intention to invest in Greece, although this year was at the highest level since 2019, still lags behind other European countries surveyed. Accordingly, while last year the percentage of respondents who expected the country’s attractiveness to improve in the next three years was the highest among the countries under comparison, this year it lags behind France, Portugal, and the whole of Europe.

In order for Greece to maintain its competitive position in the global economy, respondents continue to prioritize three main priorities: improving the education system and human resources skills and facilitating access to human capital (28%), reducing taxation (27%) and the support of high-tech and innovation sectors, such as clean technologies, etc. (24%). These three parameters have been consistently at the top of the ranking of priorities for the last four years.