In recent years, Spain has established itself as one of the key destinations in Europe for foreign investment. According to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, their volume in 2022 amounted to more than 34.178 billion euros. Compared to the previous year, this figure increased by 13.9% and became the second since data collection began in 1993.
The largest investor in the Spanish economy is the United States – 9.453 billion euros, which is 27.7% of the total. This is followed by the UK – 6.097 billion euros (17.8%), Germany – 4.79 billion euros (14%), France – 3.41 billion euros (10%) and Australia with 1.353 billion euros (4%). The top ten also includes the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Austria and Hong Kong.
In turn, there was a sharp drop in the volume of Chinese investments, which in the first half of last year amounted to only 95 million euros. This is in stark contrast to 435 million in 2021, more than 3 billion in 2017 and 9.585 billion over the past ten years.
About 55% of foreign investment in Spain was directed to the services sector, 42.2% to industry, 2.5% to construction and 0.2% to the primary sector. Investments in the manufacturing industry amounted to about 10.111 billion euros, in the telecommunications sector – 2.713 billion euros, in renewable energy sources – over 2.8 billion euros. 1.4 billion euros were invested in the programming and computer sector and, finally, in the research and development sector – more than 800 million euros.
The largest volume of foreign investment in 2022 was received by the Autonomous Communities of Madrid – 17.226 billion euros, the Basque Country (5,512), Catalonia (3,883), the Valencian Community (2,036) and Andalusia (1,265). These five regions account for 87.6% of all foreign investment in Spain.
The increase in total foreign investment has significantly strengthened the country’s export base, as Spanish companies have been able to expand and diversify their presence in the global market by taking advantage of new commercial and collaboration opportunities. In 2022, more than 55,000 companies exported on a regular basis.