INTERES Invest in Spain

Spain became the fourth most attractive European country for foreign investment in 2007, behind the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and accounted for 6.9% of all projects implemented across Europe, according to a report issued by Ernst & Young.

In total, Spain received 256 foreign investment projects over last year, 21% up on 2006, when it also came fourth in the ranking.

As far as employment creation associated with investment projects is concerned, Spain recorded a 31% decrease, bettering results in Germany (-40%), Ireland (-44%) or Portugal (-59%), and placing the country at a similar level to France (-19%).

When asked about future prospects, 8% of those surveyed named Spain as a ‘possible’ destination for their next investment or expansion projects. In this respect, Spain lags behind countries such Poland, Germany, Russia or France which achieved levels of 18%, 16%, 12% and 11% respectively.

According to the analysis conducted by INTERES Invest in Spain into the aforementioned survey, the data confirm that Spain’s trajectory is parallel to that of Western Europe as a whole, where the shift is towards capturing service sector projects.

At a European level, the number of FDI projects in Europe grew by 5% in 2007, rising to 3,712, but employment creation associated with such projects fell by 18%, with a total of 176,551 jobs created.

On a global scale, the survey indicates that China is catching up fast with Europe in the ranking of countries that attract most foreign investment.

However, it points out that investors’ perceptions “do reflect the reality of the situation” as while 47% of respondents placed China in the top three destinations for investment, it only received 8% of total foreign investment, according to the UNCTAD data cited in the survey.

In contrast, only 33% of respondents name Western Europe as their first choice for local investment despite the fact that the area receives 37% of FDI, according to UNCTAD sources.