Barcelona Southern Europe’s most attractive city to invest in, according to EY

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan capital is Europe's 8th most attractive city to invest in and the highest-ranked city located in the southern part of the continent, according to the international consultancy firm Ernst & Young. London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels and Munich come first in the European ranking and are followed by the Catalan capital, ahead of Madrid, which comes in 10^th position. According to EY, Barcelona continues to be one of the most attractive places for foreign investment. The consultancy firm highlights the fact that Barcelona has attracted "enough" international business projects to confirm its place among Europe's top 10 investment hotspots.

Barcelona ranked 1^st in number of jobs created due to direct foreign investment

Catalonia ended 2014 with 108 direct foreign investment projects, which represents a 27% increase on the figures from the previous year. These projects created 7,089 new jobs. EY stressed the fact that none of the 7 cities ahead of Barcelona were able to transform direct investment projects into the creation of so many new jobs. The closest to Barcelona was London, which created 3,470 jobs due to direct foreign investment, half of that generated in the Catalan capital.

Catalonia attracted half of Spain's direct foreign investment projects in 2014

Looking at Spain overall, the Autonomous Communities that attracted the highest number of foreign direct investment projects in 2014 after Catalonia were: the Madrid region, with 57 projects; the Basque Country, 21; Andalusia, 13 and the Valencian Country (also called Valencian Community), 9. Last year, Catalonia accounted for almost half of the international direct investment projects carried out in Spain (46.5%), while Madrid attracted around a quarter of the total (24.5%).

The boost brought by foreign investment in 2014 meant Spain occupied 4^th position at European level (with half of the projects going to Catalonia). The ranking of European countries attracting the highest number of foreign direct investment projects in 2014 is topped by the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain.

United States, Germany and France lead the origin market list

Finally, out of the 232 direct foreign investment projects carried out in Spain last year, 57 were from the United States, followed by Germany with 38 projects and France with 20 business initiatives. Japan and the United Kingdom were ranked 4^th and 5^th respectively. The international investors were mostly attracted by financial services, manufacturing industries and the transport sector.