Foreign investment: good news and bad news
Total gross foreign investment in Catalonia accounts for 16% of the total Spanish state investment, approximately €4.9 billion. This is significantly behind the region of Madrid. This is confirmed by the data published a couple of days ago by the Ministry of Economy. However, in this context, it is worth highlighting Acción's investment fundraising efforts, which in 2024 attracted more than €1 billion in productive foreign investment (FDI). This type of investment, productive investment, is the most beneficial compared to capital investment. Productive investment takes the form of infrastructure and jobs, which require a higher level of commitment and a much longer life cycle than financial investments, which are more volatile and move with the winds of speculation.
Many of the projects acquired by Acció are new, meaning they start from scratch and without any prior conditions. This is what is called, in investment terminology, greenfield, evoking a green field where there is space to run. On the opposite side are the brownfields, which are projects that must carry a prior backpack to which they must adapt and build upon. Although the projects greenfield They have better press than the brownfieldsThe world is full of exceptions, and we have some very close by. The Hard Rock would be an example of a project greenfield: It was born ambitious, probably too ambitious, with plenty of room to run; also with tax exemptions and other negotiated public benefits. But it soon became a political workhorse. However, the use of the former Nissan production plant located in the Zona Franca by other companies to manufacture new car models has been easier than it initially seemed.
But what does the future hold? 2025 has been born unpredictable, with a pessimistic tinge. The positive side is that a portion of the European funds still need to be leveraged in new projects. But what is worrying is a more insidious trend that has been dragging on for some time. Generally speaking, foreign investment began to lose some momentum with the financial crisis; it deepened with the health crisis, and is accelerating due to geopolitical tensions that lead to greater global fragmentation. Countries and companies are finding it necessary to be cautious in their investments abroad. It is necessary to strengthen and protect certain productive capacities. This may involve relocating some activities within the same territory or locating them in safer strategic locations, either because they are closer geographically or because they correspond to countries with similar interests.
In this sense, we see how the European Union is reviving the concept of strategic autonomy, which we're currently seeing extend to security, but we can find equivalent political initiatives around the world. In a short time, we've moved from a discourse that championed multilateral agreements and trust in a globalized world to an increasingly fragmented world in which alliances must be redefined.
