Portugal has captured the highest value of foreign direct investment in the last 20 years, according to the EY 2017 Attractiveness Survey of Portugal
Portugal has managed to capture the highest value of foreign direct investment in the last 20 years, according to data released on Tuesday by the Survey of Attractiveness of Portugal 2017, conducted by EY. In total, according to the study, Portugal managed to capture the record number of 59 investments in 2016, however, due to their size or nature, the number of jobs created decreased from 3,5 thousand to 2,5 thousand, in Compared to 2015.
“Job creation is clearly affected by a reduction in the average number of jobs created per project, lower than the average pre-crisis and the previous year,” the study authors point out. Germany and Spain were the main investors in Portugal in 2016, with 14 and 10 investments respectively, while France led job creation with 900 new jobs and was the fourth in number of projects, with 8 new investment projects . The US and Japan are also among the top sources of foreign direct investment in the country by 2016, “illustrating the country’s geographic reach and logistics potential,” they add.
German investment, creating a total of 265 jobs, was mostly linked to manufacturing activities. The study also highlights the great optimism of 62% of foreign investors regarding the future of Portugal and the 32% willingness of investors to increase investment in our country during the next year. The areas of R & D and logistics stand out as sectors with the highest number of investment intentions, while manufacturing, marketing and sales are highly representative.
EY also points out that the sectors of consumer goods, real estate, construction and transport and car industry are more prominent by investors not established in Portugal and that the sectors of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and tourism Are viewed by investors as driving the country’s development. The region of Lisbon is seen as the most attractive in Portugal but Porto appears as the destination with the highest number of new investments and job creation.
The EY Attractiveness Survey is a study promoted by EY at the European level, with the objective of evaluating the perception of foreign investors regarding the attractiveness of the different locations. In this edition, companies that have already invested or that have potential for future investment in the territory under analysis are surveyed and are spread across 20 countries and in 5 different languages (German, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French).
