Shipping revenues up as tourism receipts slide
Revenues for the Greek shipping industry posted 15 percent growth in July on an annual basis, the Bank of Greece announced yesterday in its monthly report. Shipping revenues amounted to 1.44 billion euros, up from 1.25 billion in July 2009. The other major pillar of the country’s economy, tourism, saw an annual decline of 4.8 percent of its income to 1.98 billion in the same month. In June, the annual drop had stood at 16 percent. Greece’s current account deficit shrank by 11.1 percent in July, to 1.48 billion euros, the report by the country’s central bank added, thanks to a decline in the trade deficit and an increase in the surplus in services. In the first seven months of the year, the current account deficit shrank by 0.9 percent from the same period in 2009 to 16.01 billion euros. Foreign direct investment recorded a net inflow of 323 million euros in July.
