The inaugural Greek Investment Conference was concluded on Tuesday in London, organized by the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) in partnership with Morgan Stanley, with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis kicking off the event a day earlier with a keynote address and a Q&A session.
In a discussion with Franck Petitgas, the head of Morgan Stanley International, Mitsotakis underlined that “…We’ve been able to convince international investors that this really is the time to be in Greece. And if foreign direct investment is an indicator of the interest that Greece has been able to generate, we’ve had a record year again in 2022 and I expect another record year in 2023”.
He reminded that Greek GDP rates for this year are forecast to reach around 6 percent, with the government expecting 1.8 percent in 2023, “which is three times the Eurozone average”.
Mitsotakis appeared “bullish” in front of an audience of representatives of institutional investors, bankers and financial analysts, adding that “… I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being higher. But it is even more important, as far as I am concerned, that this growth has real sustainable characteristics. This is helping the Greek economy become much more extroverted”.
The two-day event brought together the largest Greek listed companies and international investment funds and, according to organizers, aimed to support entrepreneurship in the country by highlighting investment opportunities in the Greek Capital Market and boosting institutional trust in the country.
Speaking at the same venue, Mitsotakis’ chief economic adviser, Alex Patelis, sat down with Yianos Kontopoulos, the ATHEX group CEO, for a discussion about the prospects of the Greek economy.
“There is too much pessimism on the Greek economy based on global risks. On the government side, debt duration remains high, while the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) has over-hedged interest rate risk. On the private side, bank credit growth has picked up, while credit creation in the 2010s was negligible”, Patelis said.
He also cited the recent approval of a second tranche from the RRF, while the loan segment is outperforming budget.
Nearly 40 listed ATHEX companies, the biggest in Greece and among the largest in southeast Europe, based on share value, participated at the conference. The even was held in cooperation with all four ATHEX-listed systemic banks in the country: Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank.
