Currency inflows from shipping rise
Foreign currency inflows from shipping are expected to reach 16 billion euros by the end of 2010, Maritime Affairs Ministry officials argue. Inflows from shipping are estimated to rise considerably in the last four months of the year and, in conjunction with other quantifiable data, it seems clear that shipping will this year contribute more money to the national economy despite the continued international financial crisis. If estimates prove true, currency inflows from shipping will increase by 18 percent over 2009, when they came in at 13.5 billion euros, which was the first decline the industry had seen in years. In 2008, they had come to a record 19 billion euros – estimates suggest there had been a daily inflow from shipping that year of 55 million euros. According to data recently released by the Bank of Greece, the country’s central bank, in the first eight months of this year, foreign currency inflows from shipping came to 10.4 billion euros, up from 9 billion in the same period in 2009 and compared to 13.1 billion euros in the record year of 2008. In August in particular, inflows came to 1.3 billion euros, while in August 2009 they had come to 1 billion euros. In August 2008, they stood at 1.8 billion euros. «Should our estimates of 16 billion euros prove right for this year, then within the space of one year, shipping will have recovered a large part of the ground lost in 2009,» sources told Kathimerini. This rebound is attributed to the improvement in the shipping market following the financial crisis that hit in 2008. Greek shipowners have now strengthened their fleets. Allied Shipbroking suggests that they have bought 221 vessels this year, amounting to $5.3 billion.
