capital

New ‘Automobile Barcelona’ fair kicks off, focused on innovation

May 11, 2017 01:26 PM | ACN

Barcelona’s car show, which has brought the main novelties of the automotive sector to the Catalan capital for nearly a century, has reinvented itself. The new ‘Automobile Barcelona’ fair opened its doors this Thursday focused on innovation, said the fair’s president, Enric Lacalle. During the next ten days, more than 90 companies, 30 car brands, and 108 speakers are expected at the Fira de Barcelona, including Tesla and other companies related to the new technologies such as Google or Facebook. Volkswagen is a notable exception. Catalan President, Carles Pugidemont, welcomed the “partnership” between connectivity and the car industry but insisted that the main challenge is that everyone be able to enjoy this combination and not just a select few.

Foreign investments in Catalonia in 2016 reach €4.8 billion

March 21, 2017 06:19 PM | ACN

Foreign investment in Catalonia throughout 2016 totaled €4.8billion, 1.3% less than in 2015. Indeed, 2015 had set a historic record in terms of foreign investment, registering a 57.8% growth in comparison to the previous year. Despite this slight decrease, 2016 represents the second best year in the historic series, according to data published this Tuesday by the Spanish Ministry for Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. Moreover, Catalonia ranks second in terms of foreign investment in Spain, Accounting for 20% of the investment and only surpassed by Madrid, which attracts 46.7% of foreign capital. Regarding Catalan exports, they totaled €5.3 billion in January, the highest figure for this month since 2000. This data confirms Catalonia as the leading territory in Spain in terms of exports followed by Andalusia, whose exports totaled €2.5 billion.

Catalan exports rose a record 13.8% in August

October 20, 2016 07:21 PM | ACN

In August, Catalan exports increased by 13.8% over the same period in 2015, reaching €4.5188 billion and setting a new record as the 'best August’ ever registered (since the collection of data began). According to figures published this Thursday by the Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competitiveness, Catalonia’s exports of goods abroad accounted for 25.6% of the total sales in Spain. The increase of Catalan exports was higher than the EU average (+12%) and well above that of countries such as France (+2.3%) and the UK (+1.2%). However, this increase was lower than that of countries such as Germany (+14.2%) and Italy (+29.4%). Spanish exports also rose (by 8.9%), totalling €17.646 billion.