Development Laws – The missed opportunities from 1998 until today

The amount of 12.67 billion Euros was “absorbed” a total of 14,851 investment projects that were included in the development – investment laws (Law 2601/1998, 3299/0204 and 3908/2011), but these funds do not seem to have strengthened the Greek economy essentially, having a “low footprint”, according to a special report accompanying the Development Law.

According to the data of the Ministry of Development and Investment, the above-mentioned laws included investments totaling 32 billion euros, which cover 13.2% of the total gross fixed capital formation of the private sector (excluding housing) in Greece from 1998 to autumn of 2016 when Law 4399/2016 entered into force.

However, despite the billions of euros allocated to support thousands of investment projects, the majority were low-tech investments. In fact, 46.5% of the number of projects and 72.2% of the total budget were for RES (especially photovoltaics) and tourism and another significant percentage for business warehouses.

According to the data of the Ministry of Development and Investment, the number of investment projects that were included in the laws 1998, 2004 and 2011, amounted to 3,116, 10,459 and 1,276 respectively.

The total amount of investments amounted to 3.590 billion Euros for the law of 1998, to 22.464 billion Euros for the law of 2024 and to 6.021 billion Euros for that of 2011.

The amount of aid amounted to a total of 1.114 billion Euros for the investment plans of 1998, to 9.573 billion Euros for the law of 2024 and to 1.991 million Euros for the law of 2011.

The average aid amounted to 357,750 euros for the 1998 investments, 915,359 euros for the 204 law and 1,560,375 euros for the 2011 one.

In total, from the investment plans of the three laws, 75,078 positions were created, of which, 29,242 with the law of 1998, 39,669 with the law of 2004 and 6,167 with the law of 2011.

The average investment amounted to 1.152 million Euros for the law of 1998, to 2.147 million Euros for the law of 2004 and to 4,719 euros for the investment plans that were included in the law of 2011.

Jobs

Aid as an investment rate was 31.05% for the 1998 law, 42.62% for the 2004 law and 33.06% for the 2011 law.

The average aid per job was € 38,121 for the 1998 law, € 241,341 for the 2004 law and € 322,854 for the 2011 law.

The average investment cost per job amounted to 122,774 euros for the 1998 law, 566,305 for the 2004 law and 976,450 euros for the 2011 law.

The average number of new jobs per investment was 9.4 for the 1998 law, 3.8 for the 2004 law and 4.8 for the 2011 law.

It is worth noting that 95% of the investment proposals supported by the implementation of these laws received the direct grant as a form of aid.

The gradual increase in the average size of the subsidized investments has contributed to the growth and economies of scale, while the corresponding increase in the average investment cost per job shows to some extent the increase in the technological level of new investments, but does not produce a corresponding number. new jobs.

The last law

Regarding the implementation of Law 4399/2016, the main conclusions that can be drawn from the existing data resulting from its implementation (until May 30, 2021) are the following:

• In the area of ​​the size of the subordinated bodies, 10.18% of them are large, 18.95% are medium, 28.79% are small and 42.08% are very small.

• Of the submitted investment plans, 49.16% belongs to sector 55 (Activities of Accommodation Services and Catering Services), absorbing 67.8% of the total contractual investment grants.

• In the manufacturing sector, sector 10 (food) presents the largest number of submitted projects (18.9% of the total submitted projects), but in the field of contractual investment grants it reaches only 10.92% of the total.

In the sector of investments for the creation of a new unit, sector 55 precedes, while in the manufacturing sector it is preceded by sector 10. The same approach appears in the investments of capacity expansion, as well as in the investments of fundamental change of procedure.

• In total, 1,768 investment projects were subject to the law. Indicatively, the amount of equity amounted to 686,243,261 euros, the amount of external financing amounted to 2,894,423,249 euros, the amount of grants amounted to 697,778,217 euros, the amount of leasing aid amounted to 287,637,181 euros the amount of the increased salary cost of new jobs amounted to 15,778,401 euros.