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Brexit's four effects on the Greek economy

Commerce, tourism, shipping and community funds are the sectors of the domestic economy that will suffer the biggest blows from a "hard" Brexit, which seems increasingly likely. Yesterday Britain's Secretary of Commerce, Liam Fox, said that "we are seeing a difficult end to the negotiations," just 4 months before the country leaves the EU.

According to business and bank estimates, a non-agreement between the EU and Britain could negatively affect Greek GDP by about 0.2 percentage points, which translates to about 300 million euros at a depth of two to three years.

A tough Brexit can turn into a management nightmare for any Greek company with commercial relations with Britain while a UK exit from the EU. without an agreement on trade relations will create serious supply chain problems, a development that will have serious economic repercussions on trade.

For Greece and according to data from the Pan-Hellenic Exporters' Association, the total value of exports to the UK in the January-August period stood at € 778.5 million and rose by 5.5%. Exports to the UK account for 3.6% of total exports and 6.9% of exports to the EU. Britain is the 8th largest export destination for Greece and 5th largest among EU member states.

Imports totaled 863.2 million, up 21.7% year-on-year. In total, in 2017 exports amounted to 1.1 billion and imports to 1.12 billion.

Pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, dairy products, electromechanical equipment and fruits and vegetables are the basic products exported from Greece to the United Kingdom.

On the tourism front, the decline in real household income in Britain as a result of the decline in British GDP due to Brexit, coupled with rising inflation and devaluation of the sterling exchange rate against the euro, will lead to a decline in British tourists to Greece. Disturbances in trade would have a serious impact on Greek shipping as well.

Finally, Britain's withdrawal from the EU on 29 March 2019 without agreement would have a serious negative impact on the size of the Community budget as the United Kingdom injects substantial funds into the Community budget.