Take another look at Spain
Spain is still a large, diverse economy, and one of the UK鈥檚 main trade and investment partners.
The news from Spain has not been good in recent times. Macroeconomic reporting in the UK stresses Spain鈥檚 problems since the crisis. The truth is that Spain is still a large, diverse economy, and one of the UK鈥檚 main trade and investment partners. Spain is the world鈥檚 13th largest economy, the 4th largest in the Eurozone and the 5th largest in Europe. Throughout the current crisis, it has kept its ranking as the UK鈥檚 8th largest export market (worth 拢15.3 bn in 2011 - more than India and Brazil combined).
Here is some good news from Spain
Spain has some world-beating companies
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8 Spanish companies are on the 2012 Fortune Global 500 list of the world鈥檚 biggest companies by revenue, and 5 of them have improved their ranking compared to 2011: Santander, Repsol, BBVA, ACS and Mapfre.
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4 of the world鈥檚 top 10 infrastructure companies are Spanish
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Spain鈥檚 export performance is one of the strongest in Europe
Spain鈥檚 economy is attracting major foreign investment especially from the UK
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Spain received 鈧�28.4bn of world FDI in 2011, an 18% increase year-on-year, and the UK was its largest investor with 鈧�6.7bn invested.
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Spain was the 4th European destination for FDI. More than 900 UK companies operate in Spain, and while some are contracting (Barclays), others are returning (Marks & Spencer), setting up for the first time (Stella McCartney, Jo Malone) or increasing their investment (Tunstall, Primark)
There are major projects coming up
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Eurovegas, Europe鈥檚 largest infrastructure project starting construction end-2013, with total projected investment 鈧�17bn and 260k jobs.
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Privatisation programmes already under way in air traffic control, airport concession, rail, and market liberalisation in public sector services.
There is still big spending power in some areas
- GDP per capita in the country鈥檚 most important regions (Madrid, Catalunya鈥�..) is higher than that of countries such as Germany or France.
Platform to Latin America and North Africa
Latin America is Spain鈥檚 2nd largest export market, and Spain is the 2nd largest investor in Latin America. Many Spanish companies have large distribution capabilities in the region, and products sourced from the UK can 鈥渟pringboard鈥� to Latin America via Spain. There are also emerging opportunities for collaboration with Spanish companies in renewable energies and infrastructure projects in North Africa.
, discusses how LSE is making success in Spain and how UKTI assisted his company to break into market.
Business opportunities exist in Spain, discover them by contacting us: UK Trade & Investment Madrid E: uktimadrid@fco.gov.uk T: +34 917 146 412