Foreign investment in Catalonia up nearly 14% in 2022

Foreign investment in Catalonia is up 13.6% during the first three quarters of the year compared with 2021's figures.

In total, money from abroad at a value of €2.477 billion arrived in the territory during the first nine months of the year, ahead of the €2.181 billion that was invested here in the same period of the previous year. 

These figures were released on Tuesday morning by Spain's ministry of industry, trade and tourism. 

However, comparing figures from only the third quarters of this year and last, foreign investment here is down by 0.4%. Last year, €768.5 million arrived in the third quarter, while this year's figure dropped to €765.1 million. 

The slowdown in third-quarter investment is in stark contrast to the levels that were attracted before the pandemic when figures regularly exceeded €1 billion in a three-month span. For example, in 2016, a single-quarter record was seen when funding worth €5.124 billion arrived. 

However, the latest figure is up significantly on 2020's data, when Catalonia received €558 million in foreign investment, and 2019 too, which saw €475 million arrive.  

This year, companies based in Hong Kong have provided the most amount of funding to Catalonia with €625 million, followed by Germany (€251.3 million), France (€204.4 million), the United States (€117.32 million), and the United Kingdom (€177.03 million).

As for Spain as a whole, foreign investment increased by 54.8% during the first nine months of this year.

In the first half of the year, Spain received €22.457 billion compared to €14.501 billion in the same period in 2021. Meanwhile, comparing only the third quarter of 2022 and last year, the drop is 2.8%. 

Almost two out of every five euros invested in Spain from abroad went to Catalonia.