Greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets has revealed a year-on-year decline of North American FDI into Spain. Figures have been steadily decreasing since 2012, and 2015 data indicates that a further low is likely. During 2013, the monitor recorded an 18% drop in investment projects from North America into Spain on 2012. The trend continued in 2014, with a 5.88% decline in projects.

Data now available for the first eight months of 2015 reveals a total of 29 projects, and if such rates continue, it is unlikely that investment from North America into Spain will surpass the 64 projects recorded in 2014. In the previous two years, the final four months combined have accounted for only 27.27% of total projects, which signals a potential lacklustre end to 2015.

Capital investment from North America into Spain has also fallen during this period. The value of FDI was $1.32bn in 2012. This subsequently decreased year-on-year by 1.97% in 2014. So far during 2015,  capital investment figure stands at only $147.8m, which again indicates that the 2015 figure may be lower than 2014.

Although capital investment and individual project numbers in North American FDI into Spain have trended downwards since 2012, job creation witnessed a recovery in 2014. fDi Markets tracked a decrease of 31.88% between 2012 and 2013, representing 1700 fewer jobs created. However, 2014 saw 4153 jobs generated, an increase of 14.31% from 2013. Unfortunately, this recovery appears temporary. For the data available from the first eight months of 2015, North American FDI into Spain has created only 1135 jobs. This suggests that the 2015 total will be lower than any of the figures of recent years.