ATHENS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Greece remains an attractive investment destination despite challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy crisis and the conflict in Ukraine, according to a survey released during an economic forum held here on Wednesday.
The country's image as an investment destination improved in 2021 compared to 2020, said 58 percent of respondents to global professional services network Ernst & Young's (EY) "Attractiveness Survey Greece 2022."
Seventy-five percent of the 250 company managers from 25 countries who participated in the survey said they expected Greece to become even more attractive to investors in the next three years.
Fifty-four percent said they planned to proceed with their investment plans this year, while 32 percent said they preferred to put their scheduled investments on hold for at least a year.
Quality of life, infrastructure and the level of labor skills top Greece's comparative advantages, according to the survey, while tax and social insurance costs and the country's labor legislation framework are identified as weaknesses that need to be addressed to further improve the country's attractiveness, Panos Papazoglou, EY managing partner in Greece, said as he presented the survey.
Greece has achieved significant progress in recent years but still has a long way to go, Adonis Georgiadis, minister of development and investments, said in a speech at the "5th InvestGR Forum 2022: A New Greece Emerges."
He said he was confident that 2022 will be a good year for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Greece following the record high of 2021. Last year, net FDI inflows exceeded 5 billion euros (5 billion U.S. dollars), according to Bank of Greece data.
"Greece is establishing itself as a regional hub for innovation, for logistics and for energy. Energy is definitely the hot sector for the country" especially now, in light of the conflict in Ukraine, Andreas Yannopoulos, founder of the InvestGR Forum, told Xinhua, noting that Chinese investors are also exploring opportunities in this region. (1 euro= 1 U.S. dollar) ■