After 2022, the record year for foreign direct investments in Greece, FDI nosedived in 2023 following the global trend of FDI reduction, its main causes being the economic recession and geopolitical tensions, as well as the high cost of money.
According to the World Investment Report of the UN Trade and Development Organization (UNCTAD), published on Thursday, the total amount of FDI in Greece amounted to $5.43 billion in 2023 against $8.45 billion in 2022. Despite this decline, the 2023 performance is higher than 2019 and among the highest of all time. In total, in the period 2019-2023, the value of FDI amounted to $28.44 billion.
Apart from the fact that overall FDI in Greece fell by around 36% in 2023 compared to 2022, the rather more troubling element, as shown by the relevant data from the Bank of Greece, is that the majority of FDI, almost 28%, concerns the real estate sector. If FDI made in 2023 and related to private transactions of property is added to this percentage, then it follows that about 45% of FDI was in the real estate sector. FDI in industries considered to expand the productive base, such as manufacturing and logistics, accounted for 16.86% and 1.73% of the total in 2023, respectively.
Well below 2022 were the so-called greenfield investments (i.e. completely new investments – not the acquisition of existing businesses but the establishment of new businesses or expansion with new investments), as according to the UNCTAD report they amounted to $1.2 billion versus $1.89 billion in 2022, registering a decrease of 36.2%. Of all FDI in Greece in 2023, greenfield investments made up 22%. It is worth noting that in the 2019-2023 period, after the fiscal streamlining but with the pandemic, greenfield investments amounted to a total of $10.03 billion, about 36% of the total FDI in this period.
Moreover, the reduction of FDI related to mergers and acquisitions by foreign capital was steep. These amounted to only $231 million in 2023, against $5.6 billion in 2022 – i.e. a decrease of 95.6%.