Trade with Greece
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forces, in order to boost the national economy’s
growth and enhance the Greek firms’ export
capacities.
The number of Greek exporters has increased by
almost 25% in the past few years. Although this
is, to a great extent, due to the collapse of the
domestic market, entrepreneurs spare no oppor-
tunity to stress that just entering a foreign market
is not enough; in order for their efforts to be more
sustainable, they require guidance, expertise and
financial assistance. As regards the government,
in particular, they are adamant that there has to
be a change in its policy mix. The representatives
of Greek business point out that over-taxation,
which includes social security contributions, is
currently the greatest problem of the Greek econ-
omy, jeopardising even the very viability of the
few healthy firms that are left in the country.
On its part, the Bank of Greece (BoG) stresses
that the “adjustment of manufacturing enterprises
to the new situation created by the crisis was con-
ducive to export growth, albeit did not lead to the
substitution of domestic products for imported
ones. Such substitution may be hindered by the
dependence of key manufacturing industries,
such as fuels, pharmaceuticals or electronic and
electrical equipment, on imported raw materials
and intermediate goods, as well as by consumer
habits, especially in regard to apparel and
footwear. In any case, the further improvement of
export performance is a main prerequisite for
economic recovery, which, nonetheless,
inescapably leads to an increase in import expen-
diture.”
BoG: Export growth will be
sustained in 2017
In 2016, the external environment was less
favourable for Greek exports of goods and servic-
es, because of the slowdown in advanced
