Click on the different countries to see further information on their investment levels in Spain, or choose on the menu on the right the variable to be seen on the map.
Created by SIfdi & Pablo de la Concepción | | Spanish Version
There is abundant economic literature on the relevance of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for any given country and its effects over the host economy. In Spain, FDI was responsible some decades ago for an structural economic change, which led to the modernization of the productive, technological and human capital of the country, and it stimulated its competitiveness, its economic growth and its convergence with more developed economies. There are currently over 12.800 foreign companies established in Spain, that employ more than 1.2 million professionals and have an associated turnover over 378.000 million Euros.
The map at the top of this page shows the origin (‘ultimate country’) of the Foreign Direct Investment gross inflows received by Spain in 2014, including both ETVE and non-ETVE operations (ETVEs are the Spanish Holding Companies), according to the latest data offered by the Investment Registry of the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad in Spain. Clicking on the selector on the upper-right corner will show the regional destination of those investments.
The following graphs try to add some more context at an international level, and they offer some further information on the evolution of the investment received by Spain through time, its source and the regional destination of the employment and inflows. A brief analysis of the latest data (unfortunately only available in Spanish at the moment) is to be found here. If you need additional information or would like to discuss anything with us about the topic, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Source: UNCTAD | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Source: Registro de Inversiones, MINECO | Print version
Direct Investment: We consider foreign direct investment operations those where investors aim to obtain control or influence in the management of companies that operate outside the territory where they have their residence. In practical terms, it is assumed that they obtain that control when the threshold of 10% of ownership is passed.
ETVEs: The “Entidades de Tenencia de Valores Extranjeros” (Spanish holding companies) are companies established in Spain whose “main” aim is the holding of shares of companies established outside the country. The ETVEs are instrumental societies whose existence typically obeys fiscal optimization strategies within the same corporate group, and in most cases their investments don’t produce any direct economic effects.
Source of the investment: The data corresponding to the source of the investment refers to the country of the ultimate controlling parent, that is, the country of residence of the company that exhausts the chain of title.
Region: Foreign direct investment in Spain is assigned to the region (Comunidad Autónoma) where the activities generated by such investment are expected to take place, according to the investor’s notification. The investments that affect the whole country are assigned to the entry “Whole territory” or “Not assigned”.
Temporary data: All the data provided by the Registro de Inversiones has a temporary nature. It can suffer modifications as a result of the permanent process of refinement and due to the incorporation of new information contained in memories received in the registry with some delay.
Foreign direct investment has become a crucial factor in the process of transformation experimented by the world economy in the last 35 years. The importance of this phenomenon, mainly driven by multinational companies, is key not only for its quantitative aspect, but also for the qualitative change it is leading to a fast globalization of the economic activity. This qualitative change is evolving in a way that multinational companies build a wide network of productive subsidiaries, whose base is the fragmentation of the different phases of the productive process and its location in different countries, with the objective of making the most of their respective competitive advantages.
A brief analysis of the latest data (unfortunately only available in Spanish at the moment) is to be found here.
