Economic growth in the third quarter of this year reached a 2% annual rate, driven by investments that increased by an impressive 12.8%, according to ELSTAT data released on Friday. Compared to the second quarter, the increase was 0.6%.
On average, in the January-September period, the economy grew at a rate of almost 2% (2% in the first quarter, 1.6% in the second quarter and 2% in the third quarter). This means that in order to achieve the target of a rate of 2.2% for the whole of 2025, as foreseen in the 2026 budget, the fourth quarter must hit a 2.8% rate.
Greece’s performance was higher than that of the European Union (1.6%) and the eurozone (1.4%). In January-September, as Eurobank Group Chief Economist Tassos Anastasatos reported in a note on Friday, Greece recorded the seventh highest growth performance in the eurozone, which had an average rate of 1.5%.
The strong increase in investments in the third quarter offset the negative rate of the first quarter and could make it possible to achieve the 2026 budget target of an average investment increase in 2025 of 5.7%. According to analysts, this acceleration is largely thanks to the Recovery and Resilience Fund projects and construction activity.
According to Anastasatos, the increase comes from the rise in “other construction” (+353 million euros or 17.9%), due to the progress of the RRF investment program, but also from the construction of housing (+€339 million or 25.4%) and transport equipment (+€187 million or 28%). Overall, fixed asset investments contributed 2.1 percentage points to annual growth.
National Bank Chief Economist Nikos Magginas said in a briefing note that the growth rate of investments in the third quarter is the highest since the first quarter of 2023. It was triggered by intense construction activity and puts the average growth rate of investments at 6.4%, well above previous estimates. Investment as a percentage of GDP rose to a 15-year high of 18.4%, from 17.9% in the second quarter, approaching the eurozone average, Magginas said.