The Greek economy suffered a small loss of momentum in the first quarter of the year, with the war in the Middle East having a limited impact on economic activity, which grew at an annual rate of 2%. Its support mainly came from strong investment activity, which continues to be fueled by the resources of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
The provisional data ELSTAT published on Friday neither surprised nor derailed the latest forecasts of economists, who place the growth rate for the whole year at close to 1.7%.
For the third consecutive quarter, a double-digit increase of 12.1% was recorded in fixed asset investments, which also had the largest contribution to annual growth with about two percentage points. This development was expected, given the acceleration of the implementation of the RRF in view of the expiration of the program. It was also positively commented that the largest contribution to the increase in fixed asset investment came from categories other than housing, indicating a broader strengthening of the productive capital of the economy.
While the investment pillar demonstrated resilience, there was a weakening of private consumption – slowing to 0.7%, a five-year low – which in recent years has been a key driver of the Greek economy’s performance. The indicator appears to have been affected by consumer confidence, a victim of the energy uncertainty that prevailed after the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Also, it was attributed by economists to the comparison with the particularly strong first quarter of 2025, as well as to the continued decline in inventories for the fourth consecutive quarter from the very high levels at which they had formed at the beginning of 2025.
