Catalonia has attracted 31% of foreign investment received into Spain since 2011

- The United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom show the highest investment levels in Catalonia with both ICT and logistics standing out regarding their share of investment.

- Using data from the Financial Times fDI Markets, Catalonia Trade & Investment agency calculates foreign investment received by Catalonia since 2011 at 14,532 million euros.

- This figure comes from the 601 foreign company investment projects, which have created 38,385 direct jobs.

Barcelona, October 14, 2016.- The Catalan Government has drawn up a study via Catalonia Trade & Investment that puts foreign investment attracted by Catalonia over the last five and a half years (January 2011 – June 2016) at 14,532 million euros. This figure comes from 601 investment projects performed by multinational companies that have created 38,385 direct jobs in Catalonia.

According to the report, and despite representing 16% of Spain’s total population, Catalonia has attracted 31% of the foreign investment volume received by the Spanish state for this period. Equally, it has been responsible for 37% of the number of foreign investment projects and for 34% of the jobs created by these same projects.

Regarding classification by sectors, foreign investments in logistics and the ICT field clearly stand out – the latter demonstrating the impulse to the Catalan economy created by the Mobile World Congress. Furthermore, those countries that have invested most in Catalonia over this period are the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Germany has been the top country in terms of volume of capital invested, while the United States has carried out the most investment projects and France has created the most jobs.

The report analyses the foreign investment flows to 42 countries around the world in order to identify the investment opportunities offered by Catalonia. The analysis concludes that Catalonia has more capacity than other countries in western Europe to attract projects related to the sectors of pharmaceutical products, plastics, clothing pieces and accessories, computer equipment and paints. Moreover, Catalonia outdoes western Europe as regards the attraction of industrial projects and logistics centres.

Looking at the future and thinking in sectorial terms, the study foresees that new foreign investments in Catalonia will be headed by industry (industry 4.0, paints and coatings, smart packaging and sports clothes), ICT (big data, e-commerce, intelligent mobility and video games) and services (food and drink services, shared value and services for the elderly).

The report has been elaborated using data from the Financial Times fDI Markets source. Additionally, it also takes data from other sources of information such as the Ministry of Business and Competitiveness that – instead calculating the foreign investment received between January 2011 and the June 2016 at 14,532 million euros – places it at 18,180 million euros. It also documents other sources such as Ernst & Young’s European Attractiveness Survey 2016, which declares that Catalonia attracted 44.8% of foreign investment projects in the Spanish state last year, or the Global KPMG Cities Investment Monitor 2015, which declared Barcelona to be the 4th city in Europe and 10th in the world in terms of foreign investment projects attracted between 2010 and the 2014.