Business

The Catalan vice president and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, stated that the Government “won’t make any cuts”and emphasised that Catalonia already allocates 70% of its budget to social policies and that 90% of the Government’s expenses are final. Junqueras’ statements come after the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, sent a letter to several Autonomous Communities in Spain urging them to “comply with the budget stability”. Montoro also nuanced that Catalonia’s deficit target in 2015, which was 2.7%, surpassed the maximum deficit established by the Spanish government by 0.7%. “If the Spanish Ministry wants to make cuts or shut down hospitals, it will have to come and do it itself”, warned Junqueras. He also emphasised that “the Spanish Finance Ministry has imposed so many cuts in the last years that any additional ones are simply inapplicable”.

The number of young Catalans living abroad will be tallied and efforts will be continued to encourage their return. The Department of Youth estimates that more than 3,000 young people left Catalonia to move abroad in 2014 and there were 242,070 Catalans living abroad by May 2015, according to data released by the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat). Projects are being set forth to aid in providing access for entrepreneurs to profiles that are outside Catalonia, job opportunities in the field of research, and promote entrepreneurship within the region. Móncat, the web platform focused on employment opportunities, will also be geared towards connecting Catalans living abroad to opportunities in Catalonia. 

The region which attracted the fourth-most foreign investment in Europe in 2015 was Catalonia. According to the Financial Times’ FDi Markets report, the Catalan economy attracted €5.224 billion throughout 2015, the highest figure of the data series, which sets Catalonia as the leading region in the Western European area. The sector which attracted most foreign investment was ICT, which according to Catalan Ministry for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, proves the “traction effect” of the Mobile World Congress for the Catalan economy. Baiget explained this good result as being due to Catalonia’s geographic situation and the neighbouring markets, as well as to its qualified workforce and its solid, diversified and innovative business network. In March, the Financial Times report FDi European Cities and Regions of the future 2016/2017 recognised Barcelona as the best city in Europe for foreign investment.

The number of unemployed registered in Catalonia totalled 499,991 this past March, which represents 10,246 less than in February. According to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security, this drop was mainly due to Easter seasonal hiring. This figure is below 500,000 unemployed, which hasn’t happened since July 2009. Moreover, the decrease registered this past month is the highest for a March month since the data series began, in 1996. Although unemployment fell in all the sectors, the one which registered the highest drop in the unemployment rate was the services sector. Unemployment in Catalonia now seen 33 months of annual decreases and continues to lead the unemployment decline in Spain. In the whole of Spain, the number of unemployment people reached 4,094,770, some 58,216 fewer than in February.

After more than 10 years of negotiations between the Catalan government and the Spanish Ministry for Transport and many changes on the route, the railway connection to Barcelona’s port will be a reality in two years’ time. The final project will cost €104 million and will be 50% funded by Port de Barcelona and the Spanish Ministry for Transport. The railway connection to Barcelona’s Port has been long-awaited by the Catalan government, as 13% of the containers and 30% of the cars that pass through the port are transported by train. The acceleration of this connection emphasises the need to start the construction of the Mediterranean corridor, one of the government’s main goals in terms of infrastructure, which is set to transport freight and passengers non-stop from Gibraltar to Central Europe.

2015 was the second best year, in terms of foreign investment, since the historical series began in 1993. Catalonia attracted €4.8 billion this past year, 57.8% more than the foreign investment registered in 2014, and only exceeded by the record €4.9 billion registered in 2010. Thus, Catalonia attracted 22% of the foreign investment received in the whole of Spain, second only to Madrid, which attracted 46.5% of the international investment. However, foreign investment in Madrid decreased by 1.2% this past 2015 in comparison to 2014. These data indicates that Catalonia’s push for independence is not dissuading foreign investors, on the contrary; during the first trimester of 2015, Catalonia was the leading region in Continental Western Europe in terms of investment. 

After eight years of losses, SEAT has pulled itself out of the red, earning €6 million in profits after taxes in 2015. This marks an end of a period of struggle with a record turnover of 8,332 million (up 11 percent on 2014), stated SEAT CEO Luca de Meo. He also hopes that the success in 2015 will help the company maintain its momentum as it pushes into 2016 with the manufacture of a new SUV vehicle as well as the release of three other car models over the next 18 months. Although the company has faced significant challenges in the face of a recovering auto industry, SEAT has seen increasing demand from southern Europe in Italy and Spain, as well as in Germany, where the company made 90,000 of their 400,000 car sales in 2015. 

In 2015, Barcelona saw 740 million euros from American home-sharing website Airbnb, through which over 800,000 guests connected with over 9,000 hosts. This number marks an increase in guests, in amount earned, and in overnight stays. This year also saw a shift in lodging location as the rented spaces are no longer primarily centred in the historic ‘Ciutat Vella’ neighbourhood. By the website´s data, Barcelona is now the fourth most important destination, preceded by Paris, London, and New York. CNA spoke to CEO of Airbnb in Spain and Portugal Arnaldo Muñoz, who explains the negotiations in progress between the company and the Catalan and Barcelona authorities. 

The Barcelona airport at El Prat de Llobregat registered an increase in almost all aspects in the month of February. Thanks to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), international passengers registered an increase of 22% while the number of domestic passengers rose by 16.9%. These numbers contributed to the 20.4% overall growth in total passengers for the month, along with a 13.3% growth in the number of operations. Compared to the same period in 2015, the amount of cargo and merchandise transported also grew, registering an increase of 18.3% and 18.6% respectively. The Catalan airport also saw an increase in annual terms, with 17.4% more passengers and 9.4% more operations than before.

The Zurich Insurance group will establish its new global data centre in Barcelona, as was divulged by the company CEO Vincente Cancio last Thursday. The opening of the global data centre, which is a two-year project, will establish 200 jobs. These positions will add to the existing 250 which the Zurich Group has already created in Barcelona. The company has over 2,000 employees and more than 130 years of presence in Spain.

Local gastronomy and wine form the focus of Catalonia’s tourism strategy for this year. Coinciding with its selection as the European Region of Gastronomy 2016, the Catalan Tourism Agency (ACT) is promoting a wide range of routes, mainly designed to do by bike, which combine sport, nature and the main wine denomination of origin areas. ITB Berlin is the biggest tourism fair in Europe and one of the most important in this sector worldwide. “We have to be here”, stated ACT’s President, Xavier Espasa. Regarding the German market, which is the third country of origin in terms of number of tourists, this is “getting more sophisticated” and appreciates Catalonia as a diverse destination, more than just the usual attractions, which reinforces the idea that it goes further than sun, beaches and Barcelona.

The European Parliament has approved a new Port Services Regulation (PSR) which grants each port the legislative power to regulate its own rates and internal structure. This new regulation could end the “hypercentralism” of the Puertos del Estado, the government-run sector which controls the ports in Spain. As the Port of Barcelona has seen more and more traffic in the last few years, this could allow for it to truly ¨thrive”, by allowing it to lower its rates to more competitive prices, and opening it to becoming a European port for international commerce. The conservative People’s Party (PP), the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), and Unionist Ciutadans all voted against the legislation. 

International tourists spent €713 million in Catalonia this past January, which represents nearly 18% more than what they spent in the same period last year. In Spain as a whole, international tourists spent more than €3.712 billion in January, which despite representing a 3.6% increase compared to the same month last year, is much lower than the rise registered in Catalonia. In fact, according to data released by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), Catalonia is the only region in Spain in which the average spend per person grew in the first month of the year. The average spend registered in January totalled 958 euros per person, 1.3% more than in January last year, while the daily spend per tourist was 159 euros, 16.7% more than in the previous January.

This past February showed the biggest decrease in registered unemployment in Catalonia for 20 years with 7,843 fewer people unemployed than in January. According to official data from the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security released this Wednesday, Catalonia led the decline in unemployment in Spain as a whole and has now accumulated 32 consecutive months of annual decreases. The services sector led the unemployment decrease, followed by industry and construction, whereas the agriculture sector added 522 people to the unemployment lists. While Catalonia was the Autonomous Community which registered the highest drop in unemployment in February, unemployment rose in Spain as a whole by 2,231 people and broke the positive trend registered each February for the last two years. 

KT Corporation has chosen Barcelona to be the “importation gateway for its products and services” in Europe, stated the Catalan Ministry for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget. The agreement with the Korean telecom giant was reached during the latest edition of the Mobile World Congress, which took place in Barcelona between the 22^nd and the 25^th of February, and established the setting up of a commercial office in Catalonia, as well as the creation of “jobs and investments” which are yet to be finalised. At the same time, the agreement foresees that KT will facilitate the distribution of Catalan products and technologies in the Korean market.