Growth rate fails to make 2 percent level in 2018
Last year’s growth rate missed the budget target and lagged the forecasts of the government and the country’s creditors, as it amounted to just 1.9 percent according to provisional figures published on Thursday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
This development was the outcome of the economy’s low performance in the last quarter of 2018, when the growth rate amounted to 1.6 percent on an annual basis, with gross fixed capital formation down 27.2 percent from the same period in 2017, largely due to high ship order levels in late 2017. However, gross domestic product also shrank 0.1 percent on a quarterly basis, ending a streak of nine consecutive quarters of growth.
These figures and the prospects of a eurozone slowdown generate concerns over whether Greece will achieve the necessary high expansion rates it needs this year and in the years ahead.
