Portugal among the Top 10 most attractive countries to invest in Europe
This year, Portugal has joined the top 10 most attractive countries for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with 154 registered projects, according to the EY Attractiveness Survey Portugal.
Portugal has shown strength in a pandemic year filled with challenges for all economies around the globe, where “50% [respondents] consider that Portugal’s attractiveness will improve in the next three years and 37% are planning to establish or expand operations in Portugal over the next year”. This might be explained by the fact that investors see Portugal as a country with quality of life (90%), stability of social climate (78%), quickly followed by reliability of telecommunication infrastructure (75%).
The survey shows that from those 154 registered projects, 70% come from Europe. In terms of main activities, these projects are from Manufacturing (37) “mainly related with the automotive industry”, Research and Development (R&D) (33) “linked to investments in Digital & IT Services”, and Shared Service Centres (SSC) (33) with well-known business opening or expanding their hubs in Lisbon.
Moreover, the main sectors that will drive Portugal’s growth are perceived by the respondents as being: Digital Economy (45%); Real Estate and Construction (39%); and Cleantech and renewables (36%).
Lastly, according to EY, “Portugal’s strategy to retain FDI [should rely on]: Increase technological leadership and develop the right set of talent, reinforce cleantech strategy and its potential to become a market leader in sustainability, focus on social and economic recovery to foster future growth, simplify the Portuguese tax system so that it can become a competitive advantage instead of a bottleneck, and continue to improve selective communication of Portugal as the right FDI location.”
