place during the Greek presidency and, according
to Development Ministry officials, the target is to
formulate all these matters clearly, in order to
leave no room for dispute or contest.
PSE: Exports up by 5.4% in the
first 8-months of 2013
However, the data shows that much remains to
be done in order to ensure steady export growth
that will be both wide and uninterrupted.
Export data for the first 8-months of 2013 shows
a marginal improvement, as compared to initial
estimates, according to analysis by the
Panhellenic Exporters Association and the Export
Research Centre (KEEM). Although the initial
estimates called for a 5.7% year-on-year reduc-
tion of the total value of exports in August 2013,
provisional data shows a reduction of 5.5%.
Similarly, excluding petroleum products, exports
were reduced by 7.2% during the same period, as
compared to an estimated drop by 7.6%.
This correction is due to the slight improvement of
Greek exports to EU countries, which led to the
exertion of less pressure during these 8 months.
More specifically, in the period January-August
2013, the total value of Greek exports stood at
18.28 billion euros, increased by 5.4% as com-
pared to 17.34 billion euros for the period
January-August 2012.
However, excluding petroleum products, there is
a drop of 2.6%; in other words, exports fell by
293.8 million euros.
According to the president of the Panhellenic
Exporters Association, Christina Sakellaridi: “The
loss of almost 300 million euros that Greece’s
struggling economy has sustained since last year,
dampens our optimism about sustaining positive
growth rates for the total of the country’s exports.
If, indeed, the additional loss from the reduction of
imports by 1.6 billion euros is also factored in, you
can understand the need for simultaneously
reviving both domestic production and domestic
consumption, as prerequisites for growth. Given
that the drop in imports now seems to level off,
reflecting the low levels of the past few years, we
must create an output and productivity surplus, in
order to sustain positive export growth rates, sub-
stitute domestic products for imported ones, and
create new jobs.”
According to the PSE and KEEM analysis, the
weight of the petroleum product sector in the total
value of exports is increasing as compared to all
other sectors. More specifically, in the first 8-
months of 2013 petroleum products accounted for
40% of total exports, as compared to 35% and
30% in the first 8-months of 2012 and 2011
respectively.
This has also brought substantial changes to the
export map, since, as far as the total value of
exports is concerned, Third Countries account for
53.7%, while EU countries account for 46.3%.
When petroleum products are excluded, this ratio
is fully reversed in favour of EU countries (64.5%,
as compared to 35.5% for Third Countries). In
other words, in the first 8-months of 2013, out of
a total of 9.83 billion euros of Greek exports to
Third Countries, only 3.88 billion euros concern
products other than petroleum (39.4% of total
exports to Third Countries). In contrast, out of
total exports of 11.13 billion euros to EU countries
Trade with Greece
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