The trend will continue thanks to the Silk Road and the tensions with the US.
The Diplomat. 03/09/2018
Chinese investments in Spain have increased by 800% since 2014, reaching a value of 15,700 million dollars, well above the 1,800 million registered in the previous four years.
According to the credit insurer Solunión, telecommunications, hospitality, real estate and energy were the sectors most favored by these investments, whose level of growth is explained, according to the company, by “the outstanding recovery of the Spanish economy and the increase in the purchasing power of the Chinese consumer”.
Thus, between 2014 and 2018 Chinese transactions in Spain reached a value of 15,700 million dollars, compared to 1,800 million between 2009 and 2013, according to the report, collected by the Spain-China Council Foundation.
The amounts have gone from 1,800 million in 2009-2013 to 15,700 million in the last four years
Apart from the dynamism experienced by the Spanish economy since 2014, the Solunion report includes other factors that have contributed to this trend, such as the increase in final aggregate consumption in China, which between 2005 and 2016 went from a one-tenth to one-third of the United States. Thanks to this, the value of Spanish exports to China increased by 70% in five years, reaching 6,257 million euros last year.
The report predicts that this trend will continue in the coming years thanks to factors such as the Belt and Silk Road Iniciative, the gradual financial liberalization with the European Union, the favorable perception of Europe by Chinese investors due to economic tensions with the United States and, finally, the importance of the Spanish tourism sector, which “should continue to make investment in hospitality attractive for Chinese companies”.
