Greece Economic Structure

By: EconomyWatch Content   Date: 29 March 2010

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 Of all the sectors in Greece, the service sector leads the way both in contributing towards the GDP as well as employment. Public sector also contributes with almost 40% of the national GDP. Tourism is another constant and reliable contributor, with 15% share of the GDP. 

However, post the 2007-2009 recession, the Greece administration has been forced to implement austerity measures that include cutting down government expenses, reducing the size of public sector and reforming the pension sector to make faster recovery and decrease public debt which has grown bigger than the GDP. According to the 2009 data, public debt is as high as 108.1% of the country’s GDP.  

 

Greece Economic Structure: Primary Sector

The primary sector of Greece, like all other EU members, remains to be the service sector. With tourism right at the helm, the service sector has overtaken all other sectors in terms of contribution to the GDP. According to the 2009 data, Greece service sector contributed almost 75.8% to the national GDP and employed 65.1% workforce. Service sector includes professions, such as street vendors, hotel and lodging industry, public administration and telecommunications.

Greece Economic Structure: Secondary Sector

The industry sector contributes almost 20.8% of the national GDP and employs 22.4% workforce. As Greece is a mountainous region, Athens is the only city with the maximum concentration of industries. The reasons vary from connectivity to ease of transportation. The various Greece industries include mining, petroleum, food and tobacco processing, metal products, textiles and chemicals.

Greece Economic Structure: Tertiary Sector

The agriculture sector contributes almost 3.4% to the GDP and absorbs 12.4% of the country’s work force. However, due to shortage of natural resources and cultivatable land, Greece is not able to grow its production volume significantly. The main agricultural products are wheat, barley, sugar beets, corn, wine, tobacco, olives, tomatoes, potatoes; beef and dairy products. Out of all agricultural products, olive oil is the topmost contributor to national export besides other fruits.

 

However, a worrying concern for all sectors is the increasing unemployment, which according to the 2009 data, stands at 8.9%. Even more troubling are the least investments. In 2009, the investments were measured to be as low as 15.6% of the GDP. 

 

 


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