89% of these companies estimate that their investments will continue or increase this year, despite the complex international context. Foreign investors are particularly positive about Spain's infrastructure, market size, human capital, quality of life and labour market.

Foreign companies established in Spain maintain positive forecasts in terms of investment, turnover, employment and export volume for 2025, according to the Spanish Business Climate Barometer Survey of Foreign Investors, a publication by ICEX-Invest in Spain, Multinacionales con España and the International Centre for Competitiveness (ICC) at the IESE Business School.

The publication, which has established itself as a benchmark among business surveys, gathers analysis from investors regarding the business climate in 2024 and their forecasts for 2025, allowing for the strengths of the Spanish business climate and the areas for action to be identified in order to focus improvement efforts in the medium term.

The percentage of companies expecting to increase or maintain their turnover, investments, employment and exports will in particular improve this year by 12%, 3%, 7% and 6%, respectively. These are some of the conclusions of the 17^th edition of the Business Climate Barometer, which reveals the ratings and importance assigned by over 700 foreign capital companies when it comes to them assessing the business climate in Spain.

89% of companies established in Spain thus expect to increase or maintain their investments during 2025, despite the complex international context, while the percentage of those that say they will increase their investments has risen to 36% of the firms surveyed.

Moreover, forecasts for their turnover prospects will also improve in 2025, with companies expecting to maintain or increase their turnover this year, which will grow to 87%, compared to 78% in the previous year.

Export potential
Foreign companies also have great potential for foreign sales, with 74% of the companies surveyed exporting to third markets from Spain. Their estimates confirm this same positive trend and 92% of firms exporting from Spain expect their sales to third countries to grow or remain the same this year.

Regarding their employment estimates, these are somewhat higher than in 2024, as 92% of firms investing in Spain foresee that their workforces will increase or remain the same in 2025, which represents a seven-point increase compared to the same estimates for 2024.

Companies generally confirmed a positive assessment in this Barometer of the business climate in which they carried out their activity in Spain in 2024, although they were influenced by the uncertainty of the economic situation and international politics. Thee business climate in Spain comfortably passes therefore in terms of the assessment it has received from managers of foreign-owned companies.

The areas most highly rated by foreign investors in Spain were those related to infrastructure, followed by the size of the market and human capital, where they valued the availability of skilled labour and their capacity for learning. When it comes to reasons for investing in Spain, the country’s geographical location, the size of the local market and access to other markets were particularly highly valued.

Regarding areas with some room for improvement, they highlighted aspects relating to taxation and financing, as well as others associated with the regulatory environment – such as reducing bureaucratic burdens – and costs, mainly electricity costs, although the latter have improved compared to the Barometer for 2023.

Environmental awareness
As in the last edition, the report includes an analysis of the sustainability goals for foreign companies in Spain, as the commitment to sustainable development as defined in the UN's 2030 Agenda is not only considered a priority for the public sector, but also for an increasing number of private companies.

According to the barometer, there are several factors that favour the development of sustainability strategies for foreign companies in Spain, including awareness among consumers and society as a whole, and especially among the workers themselves. The responsible behaviour of suppliers and customers are also factors that contribute to the successful development of these strategies.

Working session with companies
In order to analyse the results of the Barometer, the Secretary of State for Trade, Amparo López Senovilla, took part in a working session today with a representative delegation of foreign companies established in Spain. Other speakers included the Executive Director of ICEX-Invest in Spain, Elisa García Grande; the President of Multinacionales con España, Paloma Cabrera; the Associate Director of IESE Madrid, María Coello de Portugal; and the Associate Researcher for the International Centre for Competitiveness at the IESE Business School, María Luisa Blázquez.

The Secretary of State emphasised that “for Spain, the last decade has been outstanding in terms of foreign direct investment received”, which is why she stressed the country’s commitment “to opening up to the outside world, to multilateralism and to the internationalisation of the Spanish economy”.

As a clear example of this, she highlighted the “excellent performance” of foreign investment in greenfield projects being run in Spain, which are the most interesting from an economic point of view, insofar as they involve constructing new facilities and hiring employees.   

Thus, in the first eleven months of 2024, Spain was awarded the fifth largest number of greenfield projects in the world, with a total of 682. According to fDi Markets, the database for these projects held by the Financial Times Group, this has meant almost 33 billion euros of investment for the country and the creation of over 60,000 jobs. 

Ultimately, as López Senovilla concluded, “greater integration into the world economy through trade and investment helps to boost the competitiveness of our businesses, the well-being and prosperity of our citizens and economic growth”.

Ratings from Suntory Global Spirits, Media Markt and HP
A roundtable discussion was held at the end of the presentation, moderated by the Executive Director of ICEX-Invest in Spain, Elisa García Grande, and during which executives from the companies Suntory Global Spirits, Media Markt Iberia and HP Iberia analysed the results of the study.

Here you can download the Spanish Business Climate Barometer Survey of Foreign Investors in Spanish and in English.

ICEX-Invest in Spain
The function of ICEX's Invest in Spain Executive Directorate is to promote and attract foreign investment, as well as reinvestment by foreign companies already established in Spain. It is a point of reference for foreign-owned companies and a meeting point for institutions at a national, regional and local level that are dedicated to promoting and attracting investment. It also performs activities to position Spain as a global platform for international business and investment. Another area of action is improving the business climate in Spain through ongoing talks with other ministerial departments, as well as Spanish-owned  business associations and companies located in Spain  and those that are foreign owned.

Multinacionales con España
Multinacionales con España is a business association that promotes awareness of the social, economic and environmental contributions made by foreign multinationals in Spain. Furthermore, it promotes Spain as a benchmark investment destination, due to its stable, favourable and competitive framework, through positive, purposeful and proactive participation in the Spanish public agenda.

IESE Business School
IESE is the University of Navarre’s Business School. The International Centre for Competitiveness (ICC) was founded in December 2006. The mission of the ICC (International Center for Competitiveness) is to promote scientific knowledge and rigorous learning in the field of competitiveness, with special emphasis on the European Union and increasing globalisation. The ICC is headed up by Prof. Pascual Berrone from the IESE Business School. The centre was created in cooperation with the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC), led by Prof. Michael Porter from Harvard Business School. The ISC has been working with the World Economic Forum for several years to produce the Global Competitiveness Report, a comprehensive study on nations’ competitiveness.