Direct foreign investment in Greece rose impressively in 2025, confirming the momentum the Greek economy has shown in recent years.
According to OECD data, foreign investment reached $12.8 billion, setting a new historical record for the country.
And the amount is up 69% from 2024, and more than 50% above the previous high of 2022, when inflows were $8.4 billion.
This development becomes even more significant when taking into account the international environment of uncertainty that prevailed during the same period. It should be noted that geopolitical tensions, as well as the pressures caused by the US trade war, affected international markets and investment decisions in many economies.
While in the European Union, foreign direct investment declined by 6% through 2025, globally a 15% increase was recorded, with total flows reaching $1.66 trillion. However, the OECD notes that the actual rise is limited to around 6% if the sharp fluctuations experienced by some European economies are removed.
An analysis of the data shows that most of the investment in Greece has been through acquisitions or participation in equity. And these placements reached $10.5 billion, covering about 82% of total inflows.
Meanwhile, earnings reinvestments totaled $2 billion, about 15.5%, while investments made through borrowing from parent companies were limited to $321 million.
Services retained the lead in terms of foreign capital absorption. In the period 2022-2024 they attracted between 59% and 85% of total investment. This was followed by manufacturing, with percentages ranging from 7% to 19%, while the agricultural sector remained low.
Financial and insurance activities were also particularly strong, with inflows exceeding $2.5 billion in both 2022 and 2024.
The real estate sector also attracted considerable interest, with investments ranging from $973 million in 2022 to $2.1 billion in 2024. At the same time, significant funds were also directed to private real estate activities.
There was also notable mobility in the information and communications sector, which attracted investments ranging from $320 million to $500 million over the past three years.
In the manufacturing sector, the largest investments for 2024 were identified in food, but also in metals and machinery, with amounts of around 206 million dollars for each category.
The increased capital inflow resulted in a significant boost to the overall stock of foreign direct investment in the Greek economy. In 2024 it was close to $72 billion, double the level of 2018 and almost triple that of 2016.
Despite the improvement, Greece is still below other OECD economies in terms of FDI stock as a percentage of GDP. Top of the list was Luxembourg with a share of 300% of GDP, followed by The Netherlands and Ireland with shares above 200%.
Finally, in terms of foreign investment return in Greece, it exceeded 6% in 2023, a rate similar to that of economies such as Britain, Germany and France.
