Track Record of Inward Investments by Cariforum Enterprises in Spain - Research Paper Example

It is made clear that Britain is the most important investor in Spain – Germany with 26.3%, France 7.8% and the Netherlands with 4.1%; the share of other countries in the FDI in Spain seems to be extremely low – Canada with 0.3%, Libya with 0.3% and Mexico with 0.23%2. It is clear that alternative schemes of trade need to be developed by the Spanish government in order for the country’s FDI to be increased; an indicative example is the trade line between North America and Spain which can be highly competitive; exporters would prefer North America instead of Europe and Spain could have a crucial role in transporting the goods3.

In the services sector, the FDI in Spain can be characterized as satisfactory; for the period 1986-1990, the FDI on the country’s financial and business services has been estimated to 35%4. CARIFORUM enterprises tend to cooperate with Spain in the services sector; in the context of the particular sector, the following areas of common initiatives – among Spain and the other countries of the CARIFORUM have been reported: a) in the tourism industry, Spain is supported by Britain – Europe – and by countries of America – both North America and the Latin America (see also Figure 1 in Section 3 above), b) in the Spanish real estate industry also investments have been noted by CARIFORUM enterprises; c) a series of service sectors has been available to CARIFORUM countries that wish to invest on Spain: ‘professional services, computer and related services, privately funded R&D services, real estate and communications services, construction and related engineering services’5; at the same time, the education, health industry and the financial services industry of Spain are also open to investors from CARIFORUM countries.

No major involvement in other Spanish services industries has been identified – referring to the inward investments by CARIFORUM enterprises in Spain. Indeed, it seems that CARIFORUM enterprises tend to invest in the Spanish tourism and real estate markets as having the most prospects for future growth – considering the other services industries, like education and health which are facing severe pressures under the influence of the global crisis.