Tourism revenues reached 21.3 billion euros in the nine months of January to September 2024, recording an increase of 4.1% compared to the same period last year.
According to data from the Bank of Greece, non-resident traveler arrivals increased by 9.3%.
Despite the improvement in the Balance of Services, in the same period, the current account deficit increased by 1.0 billion euros compared to the same period in 2023 and stood at 7.7 billion euros.
This development reflects an increase in the deficit in the goods balance, due to an increase in imports and a simultaneous decrease in exports. At current prices, exports of goods fell by 2.7% ( 3.3% at constant prices) and imports of goods increased by 1.9% (3.3% at constant prices).
In particular, at current prices, exports of goods excluding fuel decreased slightly by 0.6%, while the corresponding imports recorded an increase of 3.5% ( 3.3% and 3.6% at constant prices respectively).
The surplus of the services balance widened, due to an improvement in the travel balance and, to a lesser extent, in the other services balance, while the surplus of the transport balance recorded a slight decline.
The capital account recorded a deficit of EUR 623.9 million, compared with a surplus in the corresponding period of 2023, mainly due to a decline in net receipts of the general government, as well as the recording of net payments against net receipts in the other, non-general government, sectors of the economy.
The deficit of the overall current and capital account (which corresponds to the economy’s external financing needs) widened by EUR 3.7 billion compared with the corresponding period of 2023 to EUR 8.3 billion.
In the Balance of Financial Transactions, direct investment in Greece recorded a net flow of 3.1 billion Euros.
In portfolio investment, the increase in residents’ claims on foreign assets was mainly due to the 4.4 billion euro rise in residents’ placements in foreign bonds and bills. The increase in their liabilities primarily reflects the EUR 7.5 billion increase in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and bills, as well as the EUR 1.7 billion increase in non-residents’ holdings of shares of domestic companies.
In the category of other investments, the decrease in residents’ claims on foreign assets is mainly due to the decrease of EUR 6.3 billion in residents’ placements in deposits and repos abroad, while non-residents’ placements in deposits and repos in Greece decreased by EUR 2.9 billion.
