crisis that is plaguing the Greek economy. As a
matter of fact, though, imports continued to fall for
a second year in a row, following a 21.2% year-
on-year drop in 2009 (amounting to €12,989.5
million).
As mentioned above, exports showed concrete
signs of recovery in the previous year, following a
mediocre 2009, albeit without reaching 2008 lev-
els, when they stood slightly below €18 billion. In
any case, taking into account the overall econom-
ic situation of the country, this performance is cer-
tainly encouraging, especially if it is sustained,
thus proving that it was not accidental or unin-
tended.
Certain other aspects of this subject are more
exhaustively discussed in other articles of this
publication. The main point of this article is that
exports remain below 7% as a percentage of the
Gross Domestic Product, showing that lots of
ground must be covered in the next four years in
order for this percentage to double, in line with the
minimum target set by the competent authorities.
Furthermore, if this trend is construed as an
increase in extroversion
, the market will start to
hope that many Greek enterprises have found
―and, hopefully, will continue finding― how to
sustain their growth, offsetting the loss of sales in
the domestic market, which, in any case, contin-
ues to suffer from the deep recession it has
entered.
However, we do not yet have an exact profile of
the enterprises that stood out in the export sector,
and this is issue will, without a doubt, be further
explored by local Chambers and competent pro-
fessional unions.
Anyhow, even if businesses were in fact forced, to
a certain extent, to increase their exports, this
shows that quite a few were prepared to adapt to
the new situation and offer
competitive and
innovative
products,
turning hardship into an
Trade with Greece
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