Country Overview
Greece is the most improved country in InfraCompass 2020 for its funding capacity, having improved from below investment grade credit rating to CCC. Continued improvements to its credit rating would further reduce its high borrowing costs, which limit its ability to fund infrastructure. Further improvement to its credit rating could reduce borrowing costs for infrastructure investment. Greece does well in its processes to procure PPPs, but it will continue to struggle to attract quality infrastructure investment without further improvements in its creditworthiness.
See Full Overview Data
GDP per capita
20,263 USD
Population
10.7 million persons
Infrastructure quality
77.7 (0-100 best)

Driver Overview

This section shows a country’s rank, ranking change and score for each of the eight drivers. It also categorises each country’s driver performance on a scale from “Emerging” (score from 0-20) to “Global Leader” (score from 80-100).

Driver
Rank
Score /100
Emerging Aspiring Contender Top performer Global Leader
- No ranking change Ranking increase Ranking decrease

Rank

Score /100

Best practice

31
1
58.3
Top performer
41
5
60.2
Contender
47
4
66.8
Contender
56
3
52.7
Aspiring
53
37
64.2
Aspiring
62
5
21.3
Aspiring
50
26
28.0
Aspiring
45
4
29.9
Contender

Metric Overview

Strengths

Cost to start a business

According to the World Bank, the cost to start a business in Greece is 1.5% of income per capita, well below the average of 4.7% for High Income Countries, easing the entry of new firms.

Time required to start a business

Due to a new streamlined registration process, the time required to start a business in Greece has decreased significantly since 2016, from 13 days to just 4. A more efficient set up process eases the entry of new businesses, which has the potential to increase competition and investment.

Procurement of PPPs

Greece's legal and regulatory frameworks which govern how private partners are selected for PPPs encourage fairness and transparency. Fair and transparent processes encourage more participation and competition, which drive value for money and better quality outcomes.

Cost to start a business

According to the World Bank, the cost to start a business in Greece is 1.5% of income per capita, well below the average of 4.7% for High Income Countries, easing the entry of new firms.

Time required to start a business

Due to a new streamlined registration process, the time required to start a business in Greece has decreased significantly since 2016, from 13 days to just 4. A more efficient set up process eases the entry of new businesses, which has the potential to increase competition and investment.

Procurement of PPPs

Greece's legal and regulatory frameworks which govern how private partners are selected for PPPs encourage fairness and transparency. Fair and transparent processes encourage more participation and competition, which drive value for money and better quality outcomes.

Top Performing Metrics

Top Performing Metrics

This is defined by the metrics with the highest unweighted score out of 100. 

High income country average

Procurement:
Procurement of PPPs

Opportunities to Grow

Published infrastructure plan

Greece does not have a national or sub-national infrastructure plan. The addition of an infrastructure plan could highlight infrastructure challenges and opportunities for investment, as well as detail the government's planned responses.

Market sounding and/or assessment

According to the World Bank, there is no formal requirement for a market sounding process in Greece. Adding one could allow the government to determine if there is an interest from investors and lenders to provide commercial financing for projects

Gross government debt

At 176.6% of GDP, Greece's gross government debt is more than double the High Income Countries’ average of 74%. With the COVID-19 pandemic likely to result in further borrowing, servicing this significant debt may hinder Greece’s ability to fund infrastructure.

Published infrastructure plan

Greece does not have a national or sub-national infrastructure plan. The addition of an infrastructure plan could highlight infrastructure challenges and opportunities for investment, as well as detail the government's planned responses.

Market sounding and/or assessment

According to the World Bank, there is no formal requirement for a market sounding process in Greece. Adding one could allow the government to determine if there is an interest from investors and lenders to provide commercial financing for projects

Gross government debt

At 176.6% of GDP, Greece's gross government debt is more than double the High Income Countries’ average of 74%. With the COVID-19 pandemic likely to result in further borrowing, servicing this significant debt may hinder Greece’s ability to fund infrastructure.

Metrics to Improve

Metrics to Improve

This is defined by the metrics with the lowest weighted score out of 100, such that these metrics would have the greatest impact on the overall score.

For metrics that have binary outcomes (yes=100/no=0), no comparative income group average is reported.

High income country average

Funding capacity:
Gross government debt

Detailed Data

This section shows country data for each of the 41 metrics. The figures in brackets denote the change in score since InfraCompass 2017. 

Note that all data has been normalised on a scale of 1-100. For raw metric data, please download the complete InfraCompass 2020 dataset. 

Where relevant, some metric scores have been inverted, such that all metrics have positive relationships with good infrastructure outcomes. For example, since lower compliance costs make it easier to invest in infrastructure, the normalised value of ‘number of procedures to start a business’ has been reversed such that lower number of procedures are scored closer to 100, and higher numbers closer to 0. In other words, a score of 0 indicates a poor performance, rather than 0 number of procedures.

Governance Regulatory Permits Planning Procurement Activity Funding Financial
Driver
Rank
Score /100
Emerging Aspiring Contender Top performer Global Leader
- No ranking change Ranking increase Ranking decrease

Metric

Greece

High Income Countries Average

Source Link

28.2%

Recovery rate

The recovery rate is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganisation, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings.

32.0 (-3.6)
68.3

20.7%

Rule of law

World Governance Composite Indicator reflecting perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. The rule of law reflects whether the law imposes limits of power on the state, private sector and individuals.

53.1 (+0.9)
74.3

18.1%

Post-completion reviews

Whether the country conducts post-completion reviews on infrastructure projects to ensure the forecast outcomes are being achieved.

Yes
-

15.1%

Shareholder governance

Measures the governance practices that protect shareholders through three dimensions: the extent of shareholder rights index (shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions), the extent of ownership and control index (governance safeguards protecting shareholders from undue board control and entrenchment), and the extent of corporate transparency index (corporate transparency on ownership stakes).

56.7 (+3.3)
48.1

12.8%

Political stability and absence of violence score

Measures perceptions of the likelihood of political instability and/or politically-motivated violence, including terrorism. Estimate gives the country's score on the aggregate indicator, in units of a standard normal distribution i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5.

51.5 (+3.6)
61.9

5%

Infrastructure or PPP agency

Whether an infrastructure agency exists to coordinate an integrated approach to infrastructure delivery and policy.

Yes
-

Greece

High Income Countries Average

32.0 (-3.6)
68.3
53.1 (+0.9)
74.3
Yes
-
56.7 (+3.3)
48.1
51.5 (+3.6)
61.9
Yes
-

Country Overview Data

Greece is the most improved country in InfraCompass 2020 for its funding capacity, having improved from below investment grade credit rating to CCC. Continued improvements to its credit rating would further reduce its high borrowing costs, which limit its ability to fund infrastructure. Further improvement to its credit rating could reduce borrowing costs for infrastructure investment. Greece does well in its processes to procure PPPs, but it will continue to struggle to attract quality infrastructure investment without further improvements in its creditworthiness.
GDP per capita

20,263 USD

Population

10.7 million persons

Infrastructure quality

77.7 (0-100 best)

GDP

214.0 USD billion

GDP growth rate

2.0%

GDP per capita growth rate

-1.7%

Gini coefficient

36.0 (0-100 worst)

Gross Government Debt

177.0% of GDP

Inflation rate

0.6%

Summary credit rating

36.0 (0-100 best)

Unemployment rate

18.1%

Urbanisation ratio

79.0% of total population

Road connectivity

75.8 (0-100 best)

Quality of road infrastructure

4.6 (1-7 best)

Efficiency of train services

3.0 (1-7 best)

Efficiency of air transport services

5.4 (1-7 best)

Efficiency of seaport services

4.8 (1-7 best)

Electricity access

100.0% of population

Electricity supply quality

6.3% of output lost

Exposure to unsafe drinking water

0.2% of population

Reliability of water supply

5.9 (1-7 best)

Digital Adoption Index

0.6 (0-1 best)

Mobile-broadband subscriptions

82.0 per 100 population

Fixed-broadband Internet subscriptions

37.7 per 100 population