- Statistical Yearbook of Catalonia
- Economy
- External investment and trade
- Foreign investment
- Investment abroad
Investment abroad. By branches of activity
| Value | Variation (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 3,436.5 | -54.1 |
| Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing | 0.0 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Mining industries | 7.2 | -66.1 |
| Manufacturing industries | 180.1 | -86.3 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning | 121.7 | -11.0 |
| Water, sewers and waste management | 4.5 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Construction | 3.1 | -84.7 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 69.9 | -96.3 |
| Transport and storage | 5.0 | -99.6 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 79.7 | -43.2 |
| Information and communications | 17.4 | -79.9 |
| Financial activities and insurance | 2,855.1 | 16.4 |
| Real estate activities | 34.9 | 7.0 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 10.9 | -62.6 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 29.0 | -20.8 |
| Education | 0.0 | -100.0 |
| Health and social services | 18.1 | -6.4 |
| Artistic, recreational and entertainment activities | 0.0 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Other services | 0.0 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Units: Million euros. | ||
| Source: | ||
| Idescat, based on the Ministry of Economy and Business Affairs. | ||
| Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business. | ||
| Note: Provisional data. | ||
| (..) Confidential data, low reliability or not available. | ||
| Value | Variation (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 17,297.5 | -56.2 |
| Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing | 42.2 | -72.4 |
| Mining industries | 43.4 | -81.2 |
| Manufacturing industries | 1,862.9 | -74.2 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning | 5,643.9 | -37.0 |
| Water, sewers and waste management | 86.8 | 674.1 |
| Construction | 487.5 | -56.4 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 459.5 | -86.8 |
| Transport and storage | 1,876.2 | -10.9 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 201.3 | -74.8 |
| Information and communications | 1,239.7 | -81.0 |
| Financial activities and insurance | 4,596.1 | 3.1 |
| Real estate activities | 472.9 | -85.4 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 92.4 | -78.0 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 94.3 | -62.1 |
| Education | 0.5 | -99.2 |
| Health and social services | 48.3 | 21.2 |
| Artistic, recreational and entertainment activities | 49.2 | -88.5 |
| Other services | 0.4 | -50.2 |
| Units: Million euros. | ||
| Source: | ||
| Idescat, based on the Ministry of Economy and Business Affairs. | ||
| Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business. | ||
| Note: Provisional data. | ||
Last update: March 25, 2026.
Methodological note
The definition of direct foreign investment basically follows the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (5th Balance of Payments Manual) and the OCDE (Benchmark Definition).
The data is based on that declared by investors pursuant to Act 19/2003, dated 4 July, on the legal system for capital movements and economic transactions abroad and measures to prevent money laundering, and the regulations that further implement it (Royal Decree 664/1999, Ministerial Order dated 28 May 2001 and Ministerial Ruling dated 21 February 2002). They do not include financing between companies, reinvested profits (save in the case of capitalisation of loans and/or profits) and investment in real estate.
Gross investment includes direct investment declared to the Foreign Investment Registry (FIR) of non-residents which entails:
- holdings in unlisted companies domiciled abroad
- holdings in listed companies domiciled abroad (over 10% of capital)
- setting up or expansion of branches
- other forms of investment contracts or entities registered abroad (foundations, cooperatives, economic interest groups), in which the invested capital exceeds EUR 1,502,530.26
Excluded from the data are foreign share holding companies (ETVEs). ETVEs are holding companies set up in Spain whose sole purpose is to hold shares in companies located abroad.
The information is broken down into activity branches by the destination of the investment in accordance with the sections in the new Catalan Classification of Economic Activities 2009 (CCEA-2009).
Foreign investment is obtained from official data published by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism from the Statistics on Foreign Investment in Spain and Spanish Investment Abroad. The data are provisional, given that in the corresponding quarterly updates, information referring to previous periods is modified as a result of operations which were declared in the last period but carried out prior to this.
For each new period published, Idescat updates and reviews the information published by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism for the last 10 years.