The province of Córdoba has been located in the first quarter of 2024 as the second of Andalusia and among the top 20 provinces of Spain by volume of investment foreigner in it, reaching the 9.58 million euros, According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. These figures clash with those known from the previous year, which are much higher, because, as reported to Diario CÓRDOBA by the General Secretariat of Commerce, the criteria for preparing the studies have changed. Specifically, the data previously provided referred to investments arriving from abroad to companies with registered offices in Córdoba and now the data disclosed are foreign investments arriving in Córdoba even if the registered offices of the company receiving them are not in Córdoba.
Once this issue has been clarified, according to the ministry’s data, in the first quarter, Córdoba was the second Andalusian province with the highest foreign investment, only surpassed by Malaga, which occupies eighth place, with an investment of 78.9 million. Seville is out of the top twenty (it occupies 21st place) with 5.81 million in the first quarter. Córdoba occupies 19th place in the national ranking. The main national destination for this type of investment is Madrid, where 4,150.4 million arrived, followed by Barcelona (974 million). Regarding the Andalusian provinces, the fourth with the largest foreign actions is Almería, with 2.99 million between January and March and Cádiz with 1.37 million. The others do not reach a million euros.
The agricultural world
Regarding these data, Francisco Torrentvice president of the Confederation of Businessmen of Córdoba (CECO)explained that in fact it is not always known with certainty what the actual foreign investment in Córdoba is, because in many cases it arrives in a deferred manner, that is, the investment is received at the company’s headquarters, which may be in another province, and then ends up in Córdoba.
Regarding the type of activities that are the object of these investments, the businessman points out that lately they are taking place many operations in the agricultural world, especially in the olive grove, and that many of these foreign landings come from investment fundswhich are also contributing their resources to other sectors such as industry and also in the emerging sector of Technological Start Up where Córdoba “has a very promising seedbed”. In addition, he believes that in the coming years theArmy Logistics Base It can be an important focus of attracting foreign investors for Córdoba. At the moment, some of the most prominent investment funds in Córdoba come from United Kingdomof the Arabian countries and Mexicoamong others.
Another point of view
If we analyse the results from the other point of view, that is, from the companies that have their headquarters in the different provinces, we can see a considerable drop in investment in Córdoba between 2022 and 2023, since while in the first of them 25.5 million were received in Córdoba, in 2023 only 5.38 million were invested. In the regional analysis, it can be seen that while in 2022 the province of Córdoba was in fourth place in the region, the last full year ended in sixth place. In both years, Seville and Malaga are the areas that received the most foreign investment. With these indications, the autonomous community of Andalusia received a total of 1,000,000 in 2023. 441.64 million
The data handled, for its part, by the Junta de Andalucía, with regard to the autonomous community, are much more optimistic, as it raises the figure of foreign investment in 2023 to 4,426 million. The Board explains that the flow of productive foreign investment, which is the indicator that the Ministry has been publishing until now, “does not reflect many of the investments made in the territory,” since it counted “investment with a corporate headquarters effect. That is, if a company has its headquarters in Madrid, all the investment it receives is directed to this community, regardless of the location of its production centers in other autonomous communities.”
Thus, the Ministry of Economy concludes by indicating that the accumulated foreign investment of the period 2019-2023 has grown in Andalusia by 87.59% compared to the 2014-2018 period, which contrasts with the 7.83% drop experienced by Spain as a whole.
