SEV warns of slump in private investments
The Federation of Greek Industries (SEV) yesterday sounded the alarm over the slowing pace of investments in the private sector, saying that the lack of tax incentives was one of the principal reasons holding back companies’ long-term planning. «The rate of investments in the private sector is estimated to decline by 5 percent to 3-4 percent this year,» SEV head Odysseas Kyriakopoulos said. He said first-quarter investment spending is expected to have remained stagnant at last year’s level. One chief reason for this adverse development is the state’s failure to reissue legislation on corporate reserves set aside for investment purposes. Despite lapsing at the end of last year, the government has yet to bring the bill up to date this year despite repeated appeals, the SEV head charged. Declining investments could hurt Greek competitiveness even as the country slid down the scale last year according to the Global Competitiveness Report drawn up by the Institute for Management Development last year. Out of 58 developed countries, Greece came in in 34th place, down from 33rd in 2000, behind Estonia, Slovenia and Costa Rica. Kyriakopoulos said the delay in implementing European Union-funded projects was also inhibiting corporate investments. The difficulty in raising funds from the stock market, the falling euro and the global economic downturn were also to blame.
