Exports on the wane without fuel
Exports posted a 5.4 percent rise in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period in 2012, according to a report by the Panhellenic Exporters’ Association (PSE) and the Center for Exports Research and Studies. However, if fuel products are excluded, the figure becomes a drop of 2.6 percent.
In the year to end-August exports amounted to 18.28 billion euros, up from 17.34 billion in the January-August 2012 period. This increase is exclusively due to the increase in fuel exports, though, as, without them, exports show an annual decline of 293.8 million euros. Oil product exports include fuel pumped into oceangoing ships visiting Greek ports.
“The loss of some 300 million euros from the troubled Greek economy dilutes our optimism for the maintenance of a positive growth rate for the country’s total exports,” PSE president Christina Sakellaridi commented on Friday.
