Spain: 6th Most Open OECD Country to Foreign Investment

April 2011

According to the “OECD’s FDI Restrictiveness Index: 2010 Update”, drawn up by the OECD to evaluate the openness to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of member countries. 

Spain is in 7th place of 44 countries analyzed, and comes in 6th in OECD countries. The report examines barriers to FDI through 4 main indicators: foreign equity restrictions, screening and prior approval requirements, rules for key personnel, and other restrictions on the operation of foreign enterprises. The report measures the four indicators in 22 sectors in the economy of each country.

Spain obtained the top score in three of the four indicators under analysis, and the only FDI restrictions registered concern foreign equity controls. This is the result of limits in transport, media group and business services (consulting, auditing…) sectors, and to a lesser extent, in financial services (banking, insurance and others).

Countries belonging to the OECD are very open to FDI. Luxembourg is first in the ranking, followed by the Netherlands, Portugal, Rumania, Slovenia, Belgium and Spain.

The countries that have set up the greatest barriers to FDI include some of the main emerging markets such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Mexico.

Source: www.investinspain.org