Business financing
In 2017, bank financing for non-financial companies listed on the IBEX 35 reached €69.1 billion (5.9% of GDP), accounting for 32.9% of total financial liabilities (39.1% less than in 2010).
At the same time, a structural change in its financing model was confirmed by increasing corporate debt issues by 27.8% since 2010 (55.3% of total financial liabilities).
Board of directors
In Spain, listed companies that have women on their board of directors have doubled, up from 40.1% in 2004 to 81.8% in 2016. In particular, the proportion of female board members was 17%, 11.1 pp more than in 2004.
However, compared to the ten of the most developed countries analysed, Spain has the lowest percentage of women appointed in its boardroom positions, compared to France and Sweden with 42% and 38.3% respectively.
Business tax contribution
The social security contributions of businesses in Spain in 2016 accounted for 8.2% of GDP, 1.2 pp higher than the EU-28 average (7%).
Adding this tax collection to the corporate tax, it is observed that the tax revenue contribution of these two continues to be above the EU-28 average, reaching 10.5% of GDP in Spain.
Industrial production
In May, the Industrial Production Index of the euro area advanced 2.4% year-on-year, 0.7 pp more than in April. By components, the biggest increases were in capital goods (3.9%) and non-durable consumer goods (2.4%), compared to a fall in energy production (1%).
Foreign investment
China’s FDI
In the first half of 2018, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the US decreased by 92% in year-on-year terms.
In contrast, its investments in Europe have grown by 4% in the same period to reach $12 billion, Spain being the sixth largest recipient country in terms of investment volume ($1.17 billion or 0.1% of GDP).
Sweden stands out for drawing 29.6% of Chinese investment in Europe.
Latin America and the Caribbean
In 2017, FDI in Latin America and the Caribbean reached $161 billion (2.9% of its GDP), 3.6% less than in 2016, being the third consecutive year for it to drop.
The main investors were the EU (37.3% of total investments) and the US (28.1%) whose main destinations were Brazil, with 44% of the total investment received, Mexico (19%) and Colombia (8%).
Likewise, the regional allocation of FDI abroad dropped by 59.5% since 2014, mainly due to the rise in interest rates and the fall in the prices of raw materials and oil.
Oil prices
Since the peak recorded on June 29 ($79.44 a barrel), in the last two months, after the OPEC meeting, the price of Brent has decreased by 8.3%, explained in part by the reopening of some oil wells in Libya and expectations of increased supply from Russia and other oil-producing countries.
