While the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown ended Greece's hopes of speeding recovery from a near decade-long economic and austerity crisis, the country has become more competitive in the first year of the New Democracy government.

The Conservatives' election in the July 7, 2019 snap elections that saw party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis become Prime Minister saw the country jump nine spots in global competitiveness said the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD).

The strengthening of competitiveness is mainly attributed to government efficiency, flexibility in government policy, transparency and the absence of the risk of political instability, said Kathimerini in a report on the findings.

Greece rose to 49th among 63 economies after ranking 58th during the last year of the administration of the Radical Left SYRIZA in the 2019 elections, the second-biggest leap after Cyprus, which rose 11 spots.

But despite the gain, Greece still ranks far behind European Union countries such as Germany at 17th, Cyprus at 30th, Spain at 36th, Portugal at 37th and Italy in 44th place, and even behind Turkey at 46th, Hungary at 47th and even Bulgaria, which is 48th.

What's holding Greece back, the survey found, is the aging population,  a decline in the value of exports and shortage of skilled human resources after scores of thousands of talented and young left during the crisis to find work and a better life elsewhere.

Still, Greece showed an improvement in a number of areas such as infrastructures and economic effectiveness as Mitsotakis was wooing foreign investors driven away by the anti-business SYRIZA.

.