IPEIROS - Economy
Important agricultural sector
Livestock rearing is particularly important, and the region has 10% of all sheep in Greece. Livestock products such as leather, wool, milk, meat, butter and cheese (particularly Gruyère-type cheese from Kalpaniko, Dodoni or Metsovo) are produced by small industrial units.
Industry is not highly developed, with small units, mainly in the food sector, processing local products.
Transport, communications, the distributive trades, and banking and insurance contribute 21.6% of Epirus' GDP. The region has two major ports, Igoumenitsa and Preveza, for exporting its products and handling goods in general. In addition, its natural attractions - Dodoni, the Vikos gorge, the villages of Zagora, its Byzantine churches and so on - offer opportunities for the development of tourism.
The other sectors - housing, public administration, health, education, social security, etc., which belong to the public sector - contribute 25.7% of the region's GDP.
Per-capita GDP is below the national average; at less than half the Community average, Epirus has the lowest level of per-capita GDP in Greece.
The high mountains hamper communications. There are no railways and the road network is inadequate, the road link to Athens being a particular problem. Epirus is thus isolated in some ways from the rest of Greece. In recent years, however, development in the region has been significantly helped by the shipping links from the port of Igoumenitsa, both to other Greek ports, particularly Corfu with its tourist trade, and abroad, with the ferry service to Italy forming the only sea route to Western Europe; air services to Athens and other cities have also come to be important.
Epirus is also the only route for communications with Albania, which enhances the importance of the region, for Greece and for the rest of Europe.
If information is available, please add comments on the following subjects:
- Productivity, competitiveness, imports/exports/foreign investments
- Restructuring, conversion, privatisation (policy, state of progress, etc.)
|
|