Catalonia Economy

Catalonia became the pioneer of Spanish industrialization. The first factories appeared in Barcelona in the last quarter of the 19th century, working on equipment imported from the UK. By 1979, the prom. production provided 45% of Catalonia's GDP and employed 40% of the region’s workforce. Despite the gradual de-industrialization, the contribution of Catalonia to the general Spanish issue of prom. production remains significant (25%).

Catalanian GNP Contribution to Spain's GDP

Due to the traditionally difficult relationship between Catalonia and Madrid, statistics on the contribution of Catalonia to Spain's GDP are closely monitored by statistical agencies and discussed in local and international media . For example, in 2016, the share of Catalonia in Spain’s GDP reached 19.03%, which was the highest figure since 2000 , although the contribution of the autonomy economy to the country's GDP has never dropped below 18.7% ^[1] .

By 2001, the contribution of industry to the GRP of Catalonia dropped to 27.2%; agriculture - up to 9.7%; and the share of the services sector reached 63.1%.

Industry

If we consider the composition of industry by industry, then we can distinguish the following:

• Plastic production - 4%;
• Electronics and mechanical engineering - 6% each;
• Pharmacology and chemical industry - 16%;
• Textile production - 6%;
• Paper and printing industry - 7%;
• Metalworking - 9%;
• Food - 17%;
• Transport equipment - 13%;
• Mining industry - 8%;
• Other - 8% ^[4] .

Most residents employed in industry (processing and textile, port facilities) work in medium and small family enterprises, where, as a rule, no more than 400 people work. More than 500 thousand entrepreneurs are registered in Catalonia, which is 19% of the total number of all entrepreneurs in Spain, of which 93.25% are small enterprises with up to 9 employees ^[5] . In foreign trade, the share of Catalonia from all of Spain is 26.8%, and the export of high-tech products is 34.6% ^[4] . The most important trading partners are the countries of the European Community, with Germany exporting and France importing. The economic potential of Catalonia is concentrated in the Barcelona area. Almost half of the entire population lives and works here. The trade gate of Catalonia is the port of Barcelona, ​​one of the largest in Europe, which can simultaneously call 1700 ships.

In the agricultural sector, winemaking is particularly prominent.

An important sector of the local economy is tourism . Resorts on the northern Costa Brava and southern Costa Dorada are popular holiday destinations throughout Europe . The routes of numerous Mediterranean cruise ships pass through Barcelona. About 5,000 hotels (of which the best on the Maresme coast and in Barcelona itself) should be noted, have 250,000 beds, 16 million tourists stay in them every year.

Recently, a significant contribution to the economy has been made by the investment attractiveness of the region, namely real estate in Spain and, in particular, real estate in Catalonia. Affordable mortgages and relatively low prices every year attract foreign citizens who purchase homes in Spain and, as a result, pay “good” taxes to the treasury of this state.

The economic context of the Catalan independence movement

The claims of the population of Catalonia against the Spanish authorities are rooted in the eighteenth century. The general decline of Spain and the extremely inefficient management of colonial possessions led to the formation of large budget deficits and huge external debt. Between 1702 and 1718 , in order to solve the deficit problem, Madrid raised taxes levied on relatively prosperous Aragonese lands 4 times ^[6] .

The financial crisis in Spain exacerbated relations between the central government, which began to pursue austerity policies , and the autonomous regions of the country, whose budgets showed chronic deficits ^[2] . At the same time, relations between Madrid and Barcelona became especially tense after the employees of the Department of Economics of Catalonia calculated that Catalonia as a subject of the kingdom is subject to budget discrimination . So, in 2010, the Catalans paid taxes to the Spanish budget for amounts of 118.5% of the national level, but at the same time received subsidies for amounts that amounted to 98.9% of the country's average level ^[7] . As a result, according to opinion polls, for the first time in the history of autonomy, the number of supporters of the independence of Catalonia from Spain exceeded the bar of 50% of the entire electorate ^[7] .

In addition to subsidiary tax imbalances, Catalonia also experiences negative consequences to a certain extent from the fact that its economic potential does not correspond to the political weight within Spain: producing 19% or more of the country's GDP, Catalonia sends only strictly fixed 13.4% of deputies (47 out of 350) to the House of Representatives (Congress) of Spain and, accordingly, cannot initiate practically any reforms that would benefit autonomy ^[8] .