Foreign Investment. By activity branches
| Year-over-year variation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Absolute | % quarter | % accumulated | |
| Total | 550.7 | -213.7 | -28.0 | 68.4 |
| Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing | 5.2 | 5.0 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Mining industries | 0.0 | -2.1 | -100.0 | -100.0 |
| Manufacturing industries | 94.9 | 38.8 | 69.2 | 370.6 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning | 254.6 | 253.0 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Water, sewers and waste management | 2.8 | 2.8 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Construction | 0.1 | 0.1 | 167.3 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 56.6 | 40.6 | 255.2 | 293.1 |
| Transport and storage | 11.7 | -5.0 | -29.8 | -63.1 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 4.7 | -4.1 | -46.2 | -39.9 |
| Information and communications | 29.7 | -14.2 | -32.3 | .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available |
| Financial activities and insurance | 5.6 | -19.7 | -77.8 | -45.2 |
| Real estate activities | 59.6 | -103.2 | -63.4 | -54.3 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 8.7 | -27.3 | -75.7 | -75.2 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 0.7 | -80.5 | -99.1 | -89.1 |
| Education | 14.9 | -3.2 | -17.7 | -23.0 |
| Health and social services | 0.3 | -5.0 | -95.2 | -94.6 |
| Artistic, recreational and entertainment activities | 0.0 | -288.8 | -100.0 | -86.6 |
| Other services | 0.5 | -1.0 | -67.2 | -69.3 |
| Units: Million euros. | ||||
| Source: Idescat, a partir del Ministeri d'Economia, Comerç i Empresa. | ||||
| Note: Provisional data. | ||||
| (..) Confidential data, low reliability or not available. | ||||
| Year-over-year variation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Absolute | % quarter | % accumulated | |
| Total | 5,344.3 | 1,265.3 | 31.0 | 31.2 |
| Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing | 35.2 | -30.7 | -46.6 | -5.8 |
| Mining industries | 42.2 | -7.0 | -14.1 | -21.6 |
| Manufacturing industries | 1,630.6 | 1,149.4 | 238.8 | 65.4 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning | 654.4 | 429.9 | 191.5 | 43.1 |
| Water, sewers and waste management | 23.9 | 13.7 | 133.8 | -21.5 |
| Construction | 34.3 | 9.2 | 36.6 | 118.2 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 409.9 | 210.9 | 105.9 | 244.6 |
| Transport and storage | 1,116.1 | 866.5 | 347.1 | 250.0 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 17.5 | -223.0 | -92.7 | -87.7 |
| Information and communications | 335.4 | -161.9 | -32.6 | 12.2 |
| Financial activities and insurance | 196.1 | -179.3 | -47.8 | -51.9 |
| Real estate activities | 486.3 | -25.9 | -5.1 | -14.7 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 77.3 | -77.9 | -50.2 | -35.5 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 143.6 | -94.9 | -39.8 | -13.9 |
| Education | 111.3 | -329.0 | -74.7 | -65.0 |
| Health and social services | 5.5 | -2.3 | -29.5 | -79.8 |
| Artistic, recreational and entertainment activities | 24.0 | -281.5 | -92.2 | 178.1 |
| Other services | 0.7 | -0.9 | -58.8 | -32.5 |
| Units: Million euros. | ||||
| Source: Idescat, a partir del Ministeri d'Economia, Comerç i Empresa. | ||||
| Note: Provisional data. | ||||
Last update: September 22, 2026. Next update: December 21, 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 Spanish companies
- holdings of more than 10% in listed Spanish companies
- setting up or expansion of branches of foreign companies
- other forms of investment in organisations or contracts registered in Spain (foundations, cooperatives, economic interest groupings), in which invested capital is greater than EUR 3,005,060.52
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.