The Economy of Catalonia

egion in volume of inward investment, which reached nearly
3,000 million euros according to FDI Markets data.
– In terms of jobs created, there was a spectacular increase in its share,
with Catalonia managing to practically double its share, up from
2.95% to a total of 5.39%.
– Finally, there was also a considerable increase in the number of
companies, of over 90%.
More recent data consolidate the clearly positive trend for the period
2009-2012, which would cast doubt on the prospect of any negative impact
on economic activity in Catalonia arising from the internationalisation
of the secession process. Thus, on the basis of the figures, the said
process can in no way be considered as a negative input for the Catalan
economy. Again according to FDI Markets, in the first six months of
2013 Catalonia attracted the second-highest volume of productive investment
of any western European region, with nearly 2,000 million
euros, only behind the south-east of the United Kingdom and ahead of,
for example, Ireland, the south-west of the United Kingdom, the west of
the Netherlands and the Madrid region itself; and ranked third for job
creation.
Finally, it should be pointed out that the data included in this section are
borne out by various rankings of international standing published over
the last year:
– Catalonia came second in the 2012/2013 FDI Intelligence “Top
25 destinations for FDI strategy,” ranking;
– Barcelona came top in the 2012/2013 “Top 10 Southern European
cities of the future,” ranking also by FDI Intelligence;
– Barcelona came in third place in the 2012 Cushman & Wakefield
“Familiarity as a business location” ranking.
Conclusions
This chapter has reviewed the foundations on which the Catalan economy
rests and which give solidity to its claim for a meaningful role in the
international context, despite the inherent limiting factors in terms of
The position of an independent Catalonia in the international context 27