Capital invested in the country in greenfield projects also fell by nearly half that of 2008’s levels, the most significant drop since data was first recorded in 2003, while jobs created also fell by just over 35%. Africa was the only source region to increase its number of projects in Spain, from one in 2008 to eight in 2009. The manufacturing, electricity and sales, marketing and support areas experienced the biggest fall in projects.

The drop comes after a stellar few years for Spain’s FDI performance, which saw a 75% increase in project numbers in 2006, with roughly the same growth percentage in capital investment that year, and a 50% increase in 2007.

fDi Markets also recorded a significant decrease in FDI projects into Germany, from 509 in 2008 to 402 in 2009. There was also a drop in capital expenditure by a total of 60.85%.