Foreign direct investment reached €2.097 billion in the first half of 2024, down from €2.434 billion in the corresponding period of 2023 and €5.125 billion in 2022, according to data published on Tuesday by the Bank of Greece.

The 14% year-on-year decline follows a larger (more than 50%) decline in the first half of 2023 versus the corresponding period. It should be noted that 2022 was a record year for foreign direct investment, which totaled €7.5 billion. In 2023, they fell to €4.6 billion, according to the BoG.

Foreign direct investment is part of the big bet on increasing investment in the country. In 2023, an increase in gross fixed capital formation, i.e., total investment, of 15.5% was forecast, and this eventually landed at 4%. For 2024, an optimistic 15.1% was also predicted in the budget, and finally last April's Stability Programme brought it down to 9.1%. It remains to be seen whether this revised figure will also be achieved in the end. For its part, the BoE "sees" a growth rate of 7.4%.