Foreign investment in Spain reached 34.2 billion in 2022, the second highest figure ever recorded in the historical series

For the Minister for of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, "this data show the strength of the Spanish economy and the enormous confidence that foreign investors have in our country. It should be remembered that these investments took place in a very complex global context, in the midst of a war in Europe and in the wake of an intense energy crisis responsible for levels of inflation unprecedented in the last four decades on the continent. In this difficult and uncertain international context, Spain offers security and certainty thanks to the roll out of the ambitious investment and reform agenda that the Government has set in motion through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan".

In net terms, i.e. foreign investments minus foreign investment liquidations, the figure for non-ETVE (Entities Holding Foreign Securities) investments reached 23.9 billion euros, 9.8% more than in 2021. Looking at last year's investment, more than 87% of foreign investment went to unlisted companies.

Geographically, the US is the main investor in Spain, accounting for 27.7% of the non-ETVE investment flows received in our country. It is followed by the UK (17.8% of the investment) and Germany (14%).

By sector, more than half of the total foreign investment in Spain (55.1%) went to the services sector, followed by industry (42.2%) and then construction (2.5%) and the primary sector (0.2%).

Moreover, in 2022, the manufacturing sector exceeded 10.1 billion euros, which is a record. The telecommunications sector received more than 2.7 billion euros, the best figure in the last 10 years. Renewable energies as a whole received more than 2.8 billion euros, of which 872 million euros went to wind (third best figure in the historical series) and 1.9 billion euros to solar (fourth best figure in the series). The programming and IT sector reached 1.4 billion euros, the second best figure in the series after 2021. The research and development sector exceeded 800 million euros, more than double any other year.

Foreign investment by autonomous community

The Community of Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia were the regions that received the most foreign investment in 2022. These five regions account for 87.6% of all foreign investment received.

Andalusia, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha and the Basque Country all achieved their best ever figures.

Spain received 860 greenfield projects in 2022

Foreign investment in greenfield projects in Spain reached its highest level in the entire historical series in 2022, exceeding 44. 560 billion dollars and have created more than 96,000 jobs, according to FDI Markets, the Financial Times Group's database of greenfield projects.

Spain received 860 greenfield projects from foreign capital in 2022, which places our country in sixth place in the world for having received the most greenfield projects globally, ahead of powers such as China, France and Japan. The number of greenfield projects increased in the last year compared to 838 greenfield projects in 2021 and 554 in 2020.

Greenfield projects are the most economically interesting type of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects, as they involve the construction of new facilities and the hiring of new employees.

Spain is also showing very promising results in the most advanced and productive forms of foreign investment. In fact, in 2022, our country was the third largest global recipient of greenfield projects in the 'Renewable Energies' sector and in the 'IT and Internet Infrastructures' sector, the fourth country receiving the most projects involving R&D activities and also fourth in the ranking of countries receiving automotive projects or those related to clean hydrogen.

Non official translation