Hellinikon project will boost economy, create jobs
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
A study for the development of the Hellinikon area has been published by the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) focuses on benefits for the Greek economy and especially on newly created job positions.
The study points out that because of its size, as well as its proximity to the city center it is an exceptionally privileged asset that is very hard to come by in modern urban centers.
The exploitation of the area will have several positive effects on the domestic economy, developmental, fiscal, social, and cultural that will decisively input into the general upgrading of the urban milieu of the broader Athens metropolitan area, while boosting the overall Greek economy.
The study maintains that in the 2014-2025 period, around 35,000 job positions will gradually emerge, without taking into account the jobs that will be created on a short and mid-term.
At the same time, during the construction phase the project will lead to a significant improvement in economic activities caused by increased investment demand and private consumption, resulting in an increase in GDP, by 2025, of 1.2% higher than if the area was not given over to development. These results will be much more important for the Attica periphery.
The study looks, in detail, at all the economic results of the basic financial variables for the 2014-2025 period. Indicatively, the study foresees that private consumption, as well as the level of overall investment will rise by 2,2% and 1.8% respectively by 2025.
Furthermore, if the Hellinikon property is not given over to development, the equivalent policies that would have to be applied in order to lighten the state's debt burden would lead to a decline in GDP by 0.3% in the first two years. At the same time, based on the above, not developing the area would mean a loss of 14,500 jobs in 2014-2015. Therefore, results show that developing the area can only yield benefits for fiscal policies, but also for employment and commercial activities.
Developing the area will also contribute to the permanent improvement in the balance of trade, in the short run through an influx of capital during the construction phase, and in the long run through transfer of income (as for example through luring foreign buyers, or through income from hosting cultural and other events,etc).
Through the stabilization of the economy and the balancing of deficits, what is being sought is the resurgence of the Greek economy in order to curtail unemployment.
The developmental aspect of the specific initiative at Hellinikon can have an immediate and permanent effect on economic activities and could actually spark off the whole developmental prospect for the country's exit from the crisis through an influx of necessary funding and the formation of a positive outlook. The initiation of development activities will send a strong signal to markets that Greece is changing and is now a country open to foreign investment and international entrepreneurship reinforcing further the tendencies for capital inflows.
