Trade with Greece
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the business climate is improved. Developments
in tourism will also depend on overall geopolitical
developments in the SE Mediterranean region,
the successful handling of the refugee crisis, and
the preservation of Greece’s image as a safe
tourist destination.
In any case, inbound tourism prospects are prom-
ising, as shown by the available data on advance
tourist packages and airline bookings to Greece.
As regards maritime transport revenues, the fur-
ther loosening of capital controls will have a pos-
itive effect, yet uncertainty remains regarding
freight rates, while a necessary condition for
maintaining the robustness of Greek shipping is
the stabilisation of the legal and tax regime that
governs its operation.
Export performance in the years
of the crisis
The increasing openness of the Greek economy
to international markets since 2009 is mainly
attributed to the growth of exports, as Greek busi-
nesses, faced with shrinking domestic demand,
were forced to turn to foreign markets.
This mainly had to do with the exports of goods,
which, according to balance of payments data,
increased as a percentage of GDP from 7.5% in
2009 to 13.2% in 2016.
In its analysis, the BoG focuses on manufacturing
and the estimation of sectoral export performance
and import penetration indexes, which reflect the
extroversion of each sector; analysis shows that
in 2010-2016 the export performance of all sec-
tors was substantially improved as compared with
the period 2000-2009.
Overall, the export performance of the manufac-
turing sector improved by 14 percentage points,
while gains were recorded in all 15 sector classi-
fications examined, i.e. electronic and electrical
equipment, textiles, pharmaceuticals, plastics,
fuels, industrial minerals, wood and cork, paper
and printing, food-beverages-tobacco, metal
products, means of transport, and other manufac-
tured items.
This increase came amidst a period that was
marked by a slowdown in economic activity, and
outpaced the decrease in output; moreover, it is
considered crucial, since these sectors represent
the most dynamic part of the Greek economy and
have certain common features, such as:
• their ability to adapt quickly to the new condi-
tions prevailing in the Greek economy, and
successfully turn to foreign markets, in order to
offset the contraction of the domestic market;
• the exploitation of their competitive advan-
tages, which are linked either to the use of new
technologies or the reduction of production
costs or the signing of agreements with inter-
national houses;
• their growth (in terms of output and exports)
despite their small size, and the substantial
role played by technology in boosting extrover-
sion.
This category includes sectors such as pharma-
ceuticals, chemicals and plastics, computers,
electronic and mechanical equipment, and means
of transport. Despite their relatively small size and
limited share in total exports, these sectors repre-
sent the most dynamic part of Greek exports and
are classified as medium and high technology
sectors, while their growth is indicative of the
