Market Analysis Report for Greece - BFF Banking Group

Paper on the Greek economy and the role of factoring

Executive Summary

Greece – with the highest public debt among the EU member states, reaching €331,1 bn or 176,6% of the GDP at the end of 2019 – has been strongly affected by the long-term crisis, generating a reduction in public spending and investments. The crisis had also a severe impact on Greek enterprises, affecting their structure, value creation strategies and mix of funding. Therefore, liquidity in the system is required for the restart of the real economy.

Furthermore, since the pandemic emergency is still a worldwide issue, and given the estimated increased unemployment rates (22.3% expected for 2020) and the impact on various industries in Greece – especially tourism – the average payment time and overdue payments on the NHS and the Public Sector will increase significantly. The Greek pharmaceutical sector is among the ones suffering from the imposition of claw-back legislation along with the constant reduction of public health expenditure. The Study highlights how in this situation factoring plays a key role in supporting the market recovery and contributing to positive growth rates, since it has the biggest advantage that companies do not acquire new debt, but in fact use their assets to generate liquidity.

Today, the GDP penetration of factoring services in the Greek market still lays behind compared the EU average, having a significant margin for expansion. Specifically, in 2019 the penetration of factoring services in Greece represented 8% of the GDP, while the corresponding EU average exceeds 11%. Since 2017, BFF is covering this significant market gap providing non-recourse factoring services for receivables towards the National Healthcare System and the Public Sector.

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