Catalonia beats business-creation record for past nine years

• In 2016, 18.6% more companies were created in Catalonia than the previous year
• From January to October there were more export companies than in all of 2015

In 2016, 18.6% more companies were created in Catalonia than in 2015, for a total of 22,256 companies created. This figure, from the Business Registry and made public by Idescat, is the highest in the past 9 years. Catalonia also leads Spain in number of new companies created, with 21.7% of the total.

Sources from ACCIÓ, the Catalan business competitiveness agency, highlight that these figures are a result of the confidence the Catalan business fabric has in the Catalan economy and its competitiveness. They also noted that each year Catalan companies export more and invest more in R&D, accelerate business activity and create more new jobs on the foundations of a solid economic recovery based on value added.

Furthermore, from January to October 2016, Catalonia had more companies that export regularly than in all of the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness. Over the first 10 months of the year, 16,604 companies that export regularly (continually over the past four years in a row) were registered, up from the 16,422 companies that did so in all of 2015.

Catalan export companies make up 34% of all regularly exporting companies in Spain. These figures lead us to conclude that Catalan companies have not only taken onboard the importance of looking abroad but also do so in a strategic, well-planned and ongoing manner, as those at ACCIÓ also noted.