The study also indicated that 22% are committed to maintaining them and only 2% hope to reduce them. In the case of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), the percentage of those that plan to increase their investments reaches 80% and those that plan to maintain them during the current year drop slightly to 20%.
Mexico and Colombia They are the two countries where the most Spanish companies plan to increase their investments in 2024, followed by Chile, Peru, Brazil, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
For him 67% For Spanish companies, the greatest advantage they find when investing is the attractiveness of internal marketsfollowed by qualified labor (33%) and access to raw materials (27%).
Regarding the risks80% of companies cite the political instability; 49%, the exchange rate; 45%, citizen insecurity; and 40%, legal security.
Despite these “threats”, Latin America continues to be, by far, theThe region where most Spanish companies believe they will increase their sales in the medium termwhich highlights the optimism with which they see the future of the region, the report adds.
Thus, it approaches the 60% the percentage of companies that believe that figures of its Ibero-American businesses will be higher than those they will obtain in Spain within three years.
He 74% of Europeans believe that European Union (EU) is more effective in defending the commercial interests of citizens compared to Member States when acting on their own, as revealed by a Eurobarometer published this Monday.
According to the new survey, in all Member States except the Czech Republic and Italy, at least six out of ten respondents trust the EU more to negotiate commercial interests.
The higher levels of disagreement were found in Romania (31%), Greece (32%) and Czech Republic and Italy (34%). Furthermore, these countries are also the ones that the less they perceive the benefits of international trade.
In this sense, six out of ten Europeans valued the advantages of international tradesuch as a greater variety of options and more affordable prices, which is an increase compared to the last survey conducted five years ago.
This is the third Eurobarometer of the EU on trade, with the previous surveys carried out in 2019 and 2010. The most recent survey was carried out in January 2024 and consulted more than 26,000 people from various social groups and demographics in all EU countries.
The objective of this survey was measuring the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of European citizens regarding international trade, in addition to evaluating the role of the EU in this area. The information obtained will serve to determine future business priorities community during the new mandate.
The survey also revealed that 82% of European citizens support international trade rules to create a level playing field. However, three in ten respondents were skeptical that countries would necessarily comply with these standards.
In this sense, support for these trade rules is also greater in those countries where people perceive the benefits of international trade.
Asked about the most important reason for the EU to use trade policy – apart from trade with other third countries -, the health and the security were the main priorities.
