For years we have seen how some political and media speakers, whether out of interest or ignorance, have tried to impose a narrative: the Catalan economy is in decline. But this account has a problem: the data contradicts it.
Catalan GDP has grown above the European average since 2014, with the exception of 2020, due to the outbreak of the pandemic. The covid hit our economy hard, but we have now been growing above the euro zone for eight consecutive quarters. Already in the second quarter of 2022 we have recovered the pre-pandemic GDP level, unlike what has happened in Spain as a whole.
The unemployment rate in Catalonia is 10.4%: we are not satisfied, but the figure is below the 13.3% in Spain and 11.0% in Madrid. Catalonia continues to be the industrial engine of Spain, contributing 25% of exports (almost as much as Madrid and Andalusia combined). It is true, Madrid has grown strongly for years, but it has done so at the expense of the territories around it: emptied Spain. Catalan GDP has resisted, contributing 19% of Spanish GDP for more than 40 years without interruption.
It has been pointed out that the GDP per capita of Catalonia has converged with the average for Spain and the EU since 2000. In this matter, the impact of underfinancing and the investment deficit that we have suffered for decades cannot be ignored. A country without sufficient financing or investment is a territory lacking a decisive element to improve the life and wealth of its citizens. That we still have resisted as we have can even be considered heroic.
In addition, the growth of the first decade of the 20th century was highly influenced by a model –that of the real estate bubble– of low added value. Yes, the GDP rose, but it did so with feet of clay. And in parallel, our demographic growth has been much higher than that of Europe. During the bubble the population increased by 2.2% per year, while in the EU it did so by 0.3% (and in the pre-pandemic years we grew by 0.5% per year compared to 0.2% in Europe).
Today the model is different. Of the increase in the employed population that we have had since 2015 (436,000 more jobs), close to 40% are scientific and intellectual professionals. The Catalan economy has been opening up to the exterior and the balance of foreign exchange has gone from a deficit of 4.5% of GDP in 2007 to a surplus of 7.7% in 2022.
And finally, Catalonia continues to be a pole of foreign investment. In 2022 the record was achieved, with 6,428 million euros (50% higher than 2021). We have attracted large multinationals such as Cisco, AstraZeneca or Intel. And now we have large projects, such as the creation of a chip prototyping plant and another to test innovative products based on alternative proteins. These projects need Next Generation funds, whose key is in the hands of the State. But the Generalitat and the companies have done the work and we are ready to begin to initiate them.
To speak of the decline of the Catalan economy is to ignore reality and ignore the fact that, despite having suffered two crises in 10 years that have impacted us more than the economies around us, we have emerged stronger and with fewer imbalances.
Catalonia has solid foundations. We have to stop listening to whoever says it's not true. And start looking at the data: without complacency, with demand, but with optimism.
