Asturias is positioned as the eighth autonomous community with the greatest number of initiatives in the European Attractiveness Survey 2016, conducted by the EY consultancy firm.
The conclusions drawn from the report that measures direct foreign investment based on the number of projects from other countries reveal the growing trend that has been present in Spain since 2013.
The fall registered in 2012 to 2013, where investment initiatives dropped from 274 to 221, seems to have been left well behind with the data from 2014 at 232 projects, strengthened by the 248 from 2015.
On a European level a 14% increase was registered in the number of initiatives with over 5,000 projects, which created 200,000 job positions across the continent.
Spain’s manufacturing sector attracts the most investment
Thanks to the 7% increase on the previous year, Spain is holding firmly to fourth position in the ranking of European countries receiving foreign investment, with 248 initiatives.
If these investments are analysed by sector, it can be seen that Manufacturing, with 115 projects, constitutes 46% of these projects in 2015. This sector is followed by Finance and Business Services with 71 projects, making up 28% of the total.
Completing the podium of sectors that attract the most investors is Transport and Communication with 39 projects, 16%.
Sectors such as Retail, with 5%, and Construction, Education and Health with 2%, complete the remaining investment projects and continue with their growing trend over recent years.
On the other hand the origin of capital entering Spain is worth highlighting. The country contributing the largest number of investment projects is the United States, with 43, followed by France, Germany and the United Kingdom, with 29, 26 and 21 initiatives respectively.
Asturias takes eighth position in terms of receiving projects
Catalonia and Madrid are the two Spanish autonomous communities that received the most foreign investment projects in 2015, with 111 and 46 initiatives respectively. The community of Catalonia also saw foreign investment rise by 2.8 points compared to 2014. However, there was a drop in Madrid of almost 20%.
Andalusia is positioned as the third region, thanks to the 169% increase, attaining 35 investment projects. The 700% growth in Aragon is exceptional, as is the 100% in Castile and Leon. Asturias received 5 foreign capital projects, meaning a 66.7% increase in direct foreign investment.
