German-Hellenic Chamber: Businesses will Carry Out Investments Despite Covid-19

Syntagma Square, Athens. Photo © GNTO/Y Skoulas

Despite the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the Greek economy, nine in 10 businesses, members of the German-Hellenic Chamber of Industry and Commerce, have said that they will implement their investments in Greece as scheduled, according to a chamber study released this week.

More specifically, 89.87 percent of participants said they would move ahead with their investment programing despite Covid-19 disruption while 53.16 percent said they would be adapting to the new market conditions. A total of 18.99 percent said they would postpone their 2020 investments by a year.

The majority – at 73.75 percent – said they expect their companies to return to normal operations six months after lockdown measures are lifted, while 20 percent said “normalcy” would take approximately a year.

At the same time however, the majority of those polled said they expected more time and effort until the overall economy fully recovers to pre-Covid-19 performance with 39.51 percent saying it will begin to recover in over a year, 32.10 percent in two years’ time and 17.28 percent in a period of six months.

In efforts to re-adapt to the new market conditions, 81.25 percent said they were considering implementing a “Plan B” in the case the coronavirus pandemic continues for a longer period of time.

Photo Source: @German Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Meanwhile, 74.07 percent of businesses polled said the pandemic affected their marketing strategies, 46.58 percent said it impacted their export activity and 62.96 percent said their business ties with German partners were not affected.

“German investors’ long-term planning is focused beyond 2020, a year expected to be recessionary. It focuses on the added value the country was unable to showcase coming out of the 10-year economic crisis,” Hellenic-German Chamber General Manager Athanassios Kelemis.