Foreign investment in Spain reached 28.215 billion euros in 2023, according to data published by the Secretary of State for Trade’s Foreign Investment Register available at DataInvex.
In an international context marked by great uncertainty, foreign investment in 2023 stayed at the average level for the past five years, which shows the strength of the Spanish economy and the confidence that investors have in the country.
Of particular note is the rise in investment projects in 2023 aimed at increasing productive capacity and employment in Spain, which rose by nearly 12% compared to 2022, standing at 5.68 billion euros.
The last quarter of 2023 did in addition see a rebound in this investment, both gross and net, which increased by 52% and 79%, respectively, compared to the third quarter.
By country, the United States was the leading source of investment flows to Spain (28.9%), followed by the UK (13.1%), Germany (10.6%) and France (9.2%).
Investments from other countries, such as Australia, Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico, also increased their weight, demonstrating the diversification of confidence in Spain.
By sector, 54.3% of total foreign investment in Spain went to the services industry, 42.2% to the industrial sector and 3% to construction, with investment in wholesale trade, telecommunications, electricity, and fuels standing out as subsectors.
The Community of Madrid continues to be the main destination for more than 54% of foreign investment, although its weight is down compared to the average for the past five years. Catalonia is in second place and the Valencian Community is in third place, with an increase in foreign investment in both regions.
Spain is proving to be enormously attractive to international investors, consolidating an investment attraction amounting to around 30 billion euros per year, compared to 20 billion euros 10 years ago in 2014.
Spain has maintained its competitive position as a top destination for foreign investment. As the latest ‘Global Investment Trends Monitor’ report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows, compared to a 28% drop in foreign direct investment in the main developed economies in 2023, foreign direct investment in Spain only fell by 18.5%.
Foreign direct investment in Spain has been very satisfactory in terms of volume and also in terms of quality, as can be seen in the sharp increase in investment projects for new production capacity in the country.
According to the Financial Times’ fDi Markets database, Spain ranks fourth among the countries in the world with the highest number of new projects for production facilities (known as greenfield projects) in the period 2018-2023, behind only the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Much of this investment is going primarily to high-value-added industries. According to the same fDi Markets source, Spain was the largest global recipient of greenfield projects in the renewable energy industry in 2023.
It was also the country to receive the third highest amount of projects involving R&D activities, the country with the fifth highest amount of projects received relating to artificial intelligence and the tenth largest recipient of greenfield projects in the Information and Communications Technology and internet infrastructure industry.
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