Foreign investment in Catalonia grows 27% in 2021

Through 82 different projects, Catalonia managed to attract foreign investment worth €611.9 million in 2021, an increase of 27.7% compared to the previous year. 

This figure is the highest Catalonia has ever seen, as explained by the minister of business and labor, Roger Torrent, on Friday. 

The industrial sector was the one that attracted the most foreign resources, acquiring 66% of the total funding from abroad. 

According to the government, this level of investment in Catalonia created 3,211 jobs – a rise of 37% on the previous year. 

The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom led the way in foreign investment in Catalonia in 2021. Behind them were France, Japan, and China.

According to data shared by Torrent, the level of acquisition of projects by Catalonia Trade & Investment (the group known as ‘ACCIÓ’ in Catalan) was kept up in 2021 despite the pandemic situation still complicating business as well as issues with global supply chains. There are also another 600 projects in the portfolio, many of which could materialize in the coming years.

ACCIÓ is the Catalan government’s agency for attracting business, investment, and promoting competitiveness. 

Of the total projects attracted, 37% are linked to new companies, i.e. they were not previously established in Catalonia. Some 44% are from companies that were already here but have decided to expand their operations or relocate new services or business lines. The remainder is comprised of joint investments with local companies, acquisitions, or maintenance investments.

The business minister praised the international networking that the ACCIÓ agency has been involved with to land foreign investment projects. According to Torrent, 31% of the initiatives resulted from work undertaken by the various offices ACCIÓ have around the world. 

The new projects have been launched in 13 different counties across Catalonia, although the executive recognizes that more efforts need to be made to spread the projects out further. 

"Territorial diversity is considerable, but it is true that it’s excessively concentrated in the Barcelona area," Albert Castellanos, secretary of business and competitiveness, said.

The automotive, chemical, and IT sectors were some of the strongest performing industries at attracting foreign capital, but the minister preferred to avoid naming specific companies and projects due to confidentiality.