The continuation of the pandemic continues to raise hurdles in forecasting the short-term trend of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, but based on available data the Greek GDP is expected to rise by 5,2% in the first half of 2022 (7% in the first quarter and 3.5% in the second quarter), the Centre for Planning and Economic Research said in a report on Monday.

More specifically, the average annual growth rate of Greek GDP in 2021 will be 8.6%, while the average growth rate in the second half of 2021 will be 9.9%. These estimates incorporate the official provisional data for the January-September 2021 period and a forecast of a 6.4% growth rate in the fourth quarter of the year. For the first half of 2022, the growth rate is estimated at 5.2%.

These forecasts signal the recovery of the Greek economy in the fourth quarter of 2021 following the lifting of a significant number of urgent restrictive measures in the country. The survey noted it was still difficult to accurately estimate both the adverse impact of the pandemic and the impact of policy measures, such as the disbursement and gradual exploitation of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Fund.