ITALY - Visa Options for expats and digital nomads
Country project greece
1. COUNTRY PROJECT:GREECE
SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 2 SMBA2012 SECTION B
GROUP MEMBERS: ANUP SMBA120 AJAY SMBA120 GAGANDEEP SMBA120
NIKHIL SMBA12060 YOGESH SMBA12077
2. Page | 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPICS PAGE NO.
1. Introduction of the country2
2. National income accounts such as GDP, GNP etc. ( for the last 5-10 years).
3. Macroeconomic aggregates like CPI, WPI, Inflation, unemployment, IIP etc.
4. Analysis of aggregates
5. Recent Fiscal and Monetary policy of the country.
6. Balance of payment & Foreign reserve issues.
7. Impact of global recession.
8. As a manager how we utilize the macroeconomic situation of the country in
favour of a company?
3. Page | 2
INTRODUCTION
Greece officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe, Athens is the
country's capital and largest city (its urban area also including the municipality of
Piraeus). According to the preliminary 2011 census data, Greece's population is about
11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the
north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the
Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th
longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number
of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the
Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islandsamong others. Eighty percent of
Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570
ft).
Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of ancient Greece, generally
considered the cradle of Western civilization. As such, it is the birthplace of democracy,
Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political
science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama, including
both tragedy and comedy. This legacy is partly reflected in the seventeen UNESCO
World Heritage Sites located in Greece, ranking Greece 7th in Europe and 13th in the
world. The modern Greek state was established in 1830, following the Greek War of
Independence.
Greece has been a member of what is now the European Union since 1981 and the
eurozone since 2001, NATO since 1952, and is a founding member of the United
Nations. Greece is a developed country with an advanced, high-income economy and
very high standards of living, including the 21st highest quality of life as of 2010.
4. Page | 3
Greece consists of thirteen regions subdivided into a total of 325 municipalities. The 54
old prefectures and prefecture-level administrations have been largely retained as sub-
units of the regions. Seven decentralized administrations group one to three regions for
administrative purposes on a regional basis. There is also one autonomous area, Mount
Athos (Greek: Agio Oros, "Holy Mountain"), which borders the region of Central
Macedonia.
No. Region Capital
Area
(km²)
Area (sq.
mi.)
Population GDP (bn)
1 Attica Athens 3,808 1,470 3,812,330 €103.334
2 Central Greece Lamia 15,549 6,004 546,870 €12.530
3 Central Macedonia Thessaloniki 18,811 7,263 1,874,590 €34.458
4 Crete Heraklion 8,259 3,189 621,340 €12.854
5
East Macedonia and
Thrace
Komotini 14,157 5,466 606,170 €9.054
6 Epirus Ioannina 9,203 3,553 336,650 €5.827
7 Ionian Islands Corfu 2 307 891 206,470 €4.464
8 North Aegean Mytilene 3,836 1,481 197,810 €3.579
9 Peloponnese Tripoli 15,490 5,981 581,980 €11.230
10 South Aegean Ermoupoli 5,286 2,041 308,610 €7.816
11 Thessaly Larissa 14,037 5,420 730,730 €12.905
12 West Greece Patras 11,350 4,382 680,190 €12.122
13 West Macedonia Kozani 9,451 3,649 282,120 €5.564
No. Autonomous state Capital
Area
(km²)
Area (sq.
mi.)
Populat on GDP (bn)
(14) Mount Athos Karyes 390 151 1,830 N/A
Greece's foreign policy is conducted through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its
head, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The current minister is Stavros Dimas of the New
Democracy party. According to the official website, the main aims of the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs are to represent Greece before other states and international
organizations; safeguarding the interests of the Greek state and of its citizens abroad;
the promotion of Greek culture; the fostering of closer relations with the Greek diaspora;
and the promotion of international cooperation. Additionally, Greece has developed a
regional policy to help promote peace and stability in the Balkans, the Mediterranean
and the Middle East.
The Ministry identifies three issues as of particular importance to the Greek state:
Turkish claims over what the Ministry defines as Greek sovereignty over the Aegean
Sea and corresponding airspace; the legitimacy of the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus on the island of Cyprus; and the Macedonia naming dispute with the small
Balkan country which shares a name with Greece's largest and second-most-populous
region, also called Macedonia.
5. Page | 4
Greece is a member of numerous international organizations, including the Council of
Europe, the European Union, the Union for the Mediterranean and the United Nations,
of which it is a founding member.
The economy of Greece is the 34th or 42nd largest in the world at $299 or $304billion
by nominalgross domestic product or purchasing power parity (PPP) respectively,
according to World Bank statistics for the year 2011. Additionally, Greece is the 15th
largest economy in the 27-member European Union. In terms of per capita income,
Greece is ranked 29th or 33rd in the world at $27,875 and $27,624 for nominal GDP
and PPP respectively.
A developed country, with high standards of living, the economy of Greece mainly
revolves around the service sector (85.0%) and industry (12.0%), while agriculture
makes up 3.0% of the national economic output. Important Greek industries include
tourism (with 14.9 million international tourists in 2009, it is ranked as the 7th most
visited country in the European Union and 16th in the world by the United Nations World
Tourism Organization) and merchant shipping (at 16.2%of the world's total capacity, the
Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world), while the country is also a
considerable agricultural producer (including fisheries) within the union. As the largest
economy in the Balkans, Greece is also an important regional investor.
The Greek economy is classified as advanced and high-income. Greece was a founding
member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and
the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). In 1979 the
accession of the country in the European Communities and the single market was
signed, and the process was completed in 1982. In January 2001 Greece adopted the
Euro as its currency, replacing the Greek drachma at an exchange rate of 340.75
drachma to the Euro. Greece is also a member of the International Monetary Fund and
the World Trade Organization, and is ranked 31st on the KOF Globalization Index for
2010.
Compulsory education in Greece comprises primary schools) and gymnasium .Nursery
schools are popular but not compulsory. Kindergartens are now compulsory for any
child above 4 years of age. Children start primary school aged 6 and remain there for
six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts at age 12 and last for three years.
Greece's post-compulsory secondary education consists of two school types: unified
upper secondary schools and technical–vocational educational schools Post-
compulsory secondary education also includes vocational training institutes which
provide a formal but unclassified level of education. As they can accept both lower
secondary school and upper secondary school graduates, these institutes are not
classified as offering a particular level of education.
6. Page | 5
Public higher education is divided into universities, "Highest Educational Institutions and
"Highest Technological Educational Institutions" Students are admitted to these
Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place
after completion of the third grade of Lykeio. Additionally, students over twenty-two
years old may be admitted to the Hellenic Open University through a form of lottery. The
Capodistrian University of Athens is the oldest university in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Greek education system also provides special kindergartens, primary and
secondary schools for people with special needs or difficulties in learning. Specialist
gymnasia and high schools offering musical, theological and physical education also
exist.
The Greek healthcare system is universal and is ranked as one of the best in the world.
In a 2000 World Health Organizationreport it was ranked 14th in the overall assessment
and 11th at quality of service, surpassing countries such as the United Kingdom (18th)
and Germany (25th). In 2010, there were 138 hospitals with 31,000 beds in the country,
but on 1 July 2011, the Ministry for Health and Social Solidarity announced its plans to
decrease the number to 77 hospitals with 36,035 beds, as a necessary reform to reduce
expenses and further enhance healthcare standards. Greece's healthcare expenditures
as a percentage of GDP were 9.6% in 2007 according to a 2011 OECD report, just
above the OECD average of 9.5%. The country has the largest number of doctors-to-
population ratio of any OECD country.
Life expectancy in Greece is 80.3 years, above the OECD average of 79.5. and among
the highest in the world. The same OECD report showed that Greece had the largest
percentage of adult daily smokers of any of the 34 OECD members. The country's
obesity rate is 18.1%, which is above the OECD average of 15.1% but considerably
below the American rate of 27.7%. In 2008, Greece had the highest rate of perceived
good health in the OECD, at 98.5%. Infant mortality is one of the lowest in the
developed world with a rate of 3.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.
NATIONAL INCOME ACCOUNTS
GNP
The Gross national income (GNI) consists of: the personal consumption expenditures,
the gross private investment, the government consumption expenditures, the net
income from assets abroad (net income receipts), and the gross exports of goods and
services, after deducting two components: the gross imports of goods and services, and
the indirect business taxes. The GNI is similar to the gross national product (GNP),
except that in measuring the GNP one does not deduct the indirect business taxes.
The value for Gross national income (constant LCU) in Greece was 189,692,000,000 as
of 2011.
YEAR GROSS NATIONAL INCOME
7. Page | 6
2001 157,541,000,000
2002 165,141,000,000
2003 170,869,000,000
2004 180,198,000,000
2005 187,948,000,000
2006 190,240,000,000
2007 199,216,000,000
2008 204,049,000,000
2009 202,179,000,000
20010 197,130,000,000
2011 189,692,000,000
GDP
The gross domestic product (GDP) or gross domestic income (GDI) is one of the
measures of national income and output for a given country's economy. GDP can be
defined in three ways, all of which are conceptually identical. First, it is equal to the total
expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated
period of time (usually a 365-day year). Second, it is equal to the sum of the value
added at every stage of production (the intermediate stages) by all the industries within
a country, plus taxes less subsidies on products, in the period. Third, it is equal to the
sum of the income generated by production in the country in the period—that is,
compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports less subsidies, and gross
operating surplus (or profits).
Greece GDP
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Greece was worth 298.73 billion US dollars in
2011, according to a report published by the World Bank. The GDP value of Greece is
roughly equivalent to 0.48 percent of the world economy. Historically, from 1960 until
2011, Greece GDP averaged 96.99 Billion USD reaching an all time high of 347.04
Billion USD in December of 2008 and a record low of 4.45 Billion USD in December of
1960. The gross domestic product (GDP) measures of national income and output for a
given country's economy. The gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to the total
expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated
period of time. This page includes a chart with historical data for Greece GDP.
8. Page | 7
MACROECONOMICS AGGRGATES
1.CPI(consumer price index)-The rate of inflation in
Greece, this often refers to the rate of inflation based on the
consumer price index, or CPI for short. The Greek CPI shows the
change in prices of a standard package of goods and services which
Greek households purchase for consumption. In order to measure
inflation, an assessment is made of how much the CPI has risen in
percentage terms over a given period compared to the CPI in a
preceding period. If prices have fallen this is called deflation (negative
inflation).
Tables - current and historic CPI Greece
CPI GR recent months
period inflation
october 2012 1.624 %
september 2012 0.905 %
august 2012 1.741 %
july 2012 1.339 %
june 2012 1.303 %
CPI GR recent years
period inflation
october 2012 1.624 %
october 2011 2.998 %
october 2010 5.208 %
october 2009 1.219 %
october 2008 3.884 %
9. Page | 8
may 2012 1.391 %
april 2012 1.903 %
march 2012 1.675 %
february 2012 2.098 %
january 2012 2.320 %
october 2007 3.096 %
october 2006 2.813 %
october 2005 3.835 %
october 2004 3.236 %
october 2003 3.172 %
2.Greece Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate in Greece was last reported at 25.4 percent in August of 2012.
Historically, from 1998 until 2012, Greece Unemployment Rate averaged 11.8 Percent
reaching an all time high of 25.1 Percent in July of 2012 and a record low of 7.2 Percent
in June of 2008. The unemployment rate can be defined as the number of people
actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force.
IMPACT OF GLOBAL RECESSION
The Greek economy stucked in a deep recession in the fourth quarter, according to
official figures that confirm the painful effects of austerity reforms intended to lower debt.
Gross domestic product dropped by 7 per cent on the year in the fourth quarter of 2011,
in non-seasonally adjusted terms.
The struggling eurozone country has been shut out of long-term debt markets since
2010, and is surviving on rescue loans from European Union countries and the
International Monetary Fund. But harsh austerity measures demanded in return for the
emergency loans have hammered the economy.
Greece's economy has been in decline since late 2008, with successive quarterly
contractions since then, with the exception of the first quarter of 2010.
Public Debt Management Agency had raised €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) in an auction of
13-week treasury bills at a rate of 4.61 per cent — down from the 4.64 per cent rate
from the previous sale of three-month debt on Jan. 17.
10. Page | 9
The Parliament approved a new round of austerity measures, slashed the minimum
wage and planning mass layoffs in the civil service. The measures were demanded by
the EU to approve a second massive bailout deal. Eurozone finance ministers, also
want Greece to detail how it will cover a remaining budget gap of €325 million ($428
million).
Greece decided that the money will come from spending cuts from ministries, from
areas including defence,"
Recession led the people to amid rioting in Greek cities that saw dozens of stores
looted and burned.
According to National Confederation of Greek Commerce said 153 businesses in
Athens had been damaged, 45 of them destroyed and in the western Greek town of
Agrinio, where a group of about 50 youths smashed banks, storefronts and a post office
before clashing with police.