Catalonia broke in 2023 the record for foreign investment attracted by the Generalitat. Through its business competitiveness agency, ACCIÓ, it facilitated the injection of 880 million in investment from abroad. The figure represents 42% more than the previous year, and is the highest in the historical series, launched in 1985.
This productive investment translated into 112 projects from foreign companies, exceeding for the first time a hundred initiatives. This is 19% more than in 2022, according to the balance sheet prepared by ACCIÓ's unit responsible for attracting and managing foreign investment, Catalonia Trade&Investment. This figure reflects projects already materialized by these companies —not including announced but not executed investments—, and only those that ACCIÓ has attracted or accompanied, so it does not include all foreign investment introduced in Catalonia.
These projects led to the creation of 4,533 jobs, 31% more than in 2022. Of these, 1,200 have allowed maintaining jobs that were at risk, either due to the closure of a plant that another company has taken over or due to the investment received by a company that required a new impulse. This was explained at the presentation of the balance sheet by the Minister of Business and Labor, Roger Torrent, along with the CEO of ACCIÓ, Albert Castellanos.
Foreign investment translated into 112 business projects and 4,500 jobs, in a year that for the first time exceeded 30 countries of originLast year was also a record year in terms of the countries of origin of these investments, since for the first time, more than thirty different origins have been exceeded. This figure has been surpassed by adding three new actors to the already present countries: Iceland, Chile, and Lithuania, as Castellanos explained.
The also Minister of Business and Labor has highlighted that the importance of this record does not lie in the specific origins, but in the diversity of provenances. In fact, the countries from which most projects materialized in Catalonia in 2023 were the United States, with 21%; France, with 13%, and the United Kingdom, with 9% of them.
Regarding markets and countries of origin, ACCIÓ works to increase investments attracted from Asia and, especially, from Southeast Asia. Investments of Asian origin represent 15% of the current total, and have potential to grow. "In the coming months and years, it will intensify," Torrent guaranteed.
In addition to gaining new countries, the 2023 balance reflects that 42% of the 112 projects were driven by companies without previous presence in Catalonia. This greenfield investment is complemented by companies that already operated in the territory and have expanded or made new injections to boost their activity in Catalonia.
The increase in attracted investments has occurred in a complex international context that casts uncertainty on the economy. Faced with this situation, Torrent links this growth to "uncertainties that have a component that facilitates the relocation of production in Europe," in order to minimize difficulties in supply flows: "Europe has opted for relocation, and Catalonia is very competitive in this area."
Torrent assures that the process to activate the electromobility hub to reindustrialize the Nissan plant in the Zona Franca "will end well and will end quickly"Along these lines, 67% of foreign investment captured by the Generalitat in 2023 was industrial. By sectors, investment projects from technology companies stood out, with 26% of the total; life sciences, with 14%; automotive and mobility, with 12%; video games, with 11%, and food, which represented 10%. The report, which has analyzed for the first time the impact on green and digital transformation, indicates that 40% of the projects have had a direct link with this area, in which 1,900 jobs have been created.
Regarding future forecasts, the Generalitat is working on a portfolio of nearly 600 investment projects through Acció. Through its activity, for every public euro budgeted for this area, 245 euros of private investment have been attracted from international companies.
Among the possible future investments in Catalonia are those that will articulate the electromobility hub in the Zona Franca, which will carry out the reindustrialization of the former Nissan plant. Torrent has argued that this hub will be key and that this reindustrialization process "is not simple because many components must be included, but it will end very well." "It will end well, and our perception is that it will end quickly," he pointed out. The minister has predicted that this hub, which is being negotiated with the Chinese manufacturer Chery, will become a benchmark for the automotive ecosystem.
It remains to be seen whether these foreign investments expected by the Zona Franca will be included in the 2024 balance. It will unequivocally include investments already announced for this year, such as the 600 million promoted by the South Korean group Lotte in Mont-roig del Camp for a battery component factory, or the 200 million from the Irish Kerry Group to open a hub for Southern Europe, among many others that will mark a 2024 that Torrent has predicted will also be fruitful in attracting international investments.
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