95% of foreign companies will increase or maintain their investments in Spain in 2017

Foreign companies' assessment of the business climate in Spain has improved in the last year and also shows an optimistic outlook for the next two years, as revealed by the ninth edition of the “Barometer of the Business Climate in Spain from the Foreign Investor's Perspective”, produced jointly by ICEX-Invest in Spain, Multinacionales por marca España (Multinationals for the Spain brand) and the International Center for Competitiveness at the IESE.

The business climate in Spain has improved since 2014 and now has an average rating of 2.9 out of 5. According to the Barometer, foreign companies have improved their outlook as the forecasts published in previous studies have been achieved in terms of investment and employment, turnover and exports.

The 2016 Barometer was presented on Thursday at the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, in a event that analyzed its most important aspects and main results. Taking part in the event were María Luisa Poncela, Secretary of State for Trade; José Carlos García de Quevedo, executive director of Invest in Spain; Adolfo Aguilar Delgado, president of Multinacionales por marca España; Luis Arias Hormaechea, director of corporate development at the IESE Business School; and María Luisa Blázquez, associate researcher at the International Center for Competitiveness at IESE.

The event also included the presentation of the Guide to Doing Business in Spain 2016, prepared by ICEX-Invest in Spain in collaboration with Garrigues, whose most important new developments were analyzed by Vicente Bootello, Member of the Taxation Department at the law firm, and coordinator of the guide.

Future outlook 

95% of the companies surveyed plan to maintain or increase their investment in Spain in 2017, signaling an improvement in their forecasts for the coming years. 95% also expect to increase their workforce next year. 62% foresee an increase in turnover in 2016 compared to 2015, while only 4% predict a decline, and 69% also believe it will improve in 2017.

Exports from Spain by foreign companies will also improve in 2016 according to 96% of the respondents, and 98% foresee growth in 2017. These forecasts are based on surveys answered last May and June.

Market assessment

The Barometer compiles the opinions of 700 foreign companies, and gives an idea of the strengths Spain must maintain and the weak points that need to be reinforced. Spain's greatest strength is in the area of infrastructures and in certain aspects of quality of life, whereas the market is also growing thanks to the economic recovery and the improvement in internal demand.

The areas requiring more work are financing, costs and innovation. Other points that can be bettered –although they are not poorly perceived by foreign investors– are language skills, learning capacity and acceptance of responsibilities and goals. Finally, companies' concerns include the labor market, the burden of bureaucracy and the cost of electricity.

____________________________________________________________________