ATHENS: Greece's economy expanded for a third straight quarter in the July-to-September period but grew at a slower clip than it had in the previous quarter, driven by stronger tourism and higher government spending, statistics service (ELSTAT) said on Monday.
The seasonally adjusted data showed gross domestic product grew by 0.3 percent in the third quarter, down from an upwardly revised 0.8 percent in the April-to-June quarter.
The data also showed annual growth decelerated to 1.3 percent pace from an upwardly revised 1.6 percent growth rate in the second quarter.
The economy's gradual recovery after a deep recession that shrank it by 25 percent is boosting hopes that Greece will emerge successfully from years of bailouts in August next year, when its current aid programme ends.
"The recovery continues to be mainly driven by consumption and services exports - tourism," said Eurobank's chief economist Platon Monokroussos.
"On a less positive note, investment expenditure remains quite volatile without signaling a convincing recovery trend as of yet," he said.
The government, which reached a technical agreement with creditors checking progress over reform commitments, has cut its annual growth projection to 1.6 percent from May's 2.7 percent.
The EU Commission in its autumn forecast also cut its projection, to 1.6 from 2.1 percent.
The main driver behind the rise in third-quarter economic output was a 5.0 percent rise in exports compared with the previous quarter. That was coupled with just a 0.4 percent increase in imports.
"For the year as a whole and assuming no significant revisions of past data, real GDP growth is expected to be higher than 1.0 percent," Monokroussos said. "It will likely come close to 1.5 percent."
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