As it's very likely that the large Spanish print and audiovisual media outlets won't report this news, or will bury it, my reflection for the day comes on the back of the following ranking from fDi Intelligence from the Financial Times. So, Catalonia makes an appearance as the most attractive region for future foreign investment in southern Europe on the 2018/19 list which considered over 450 cities and regions. It seems that neither the idea of a supposed climate of social confrontation that they've tried to spread outside of Catalonia based on a false narrative, nor the leaving of the registered offices of large companies, nor the alarmist rhetoric from the Spanish government and the media which supports them in their narrative against Catalonia have made a mark on the worldwide financial bible: Catalonia is the region with best economic potential, human capital, lifestyle, cost effectiveness, connectivity and business friendliness. The Financial Times says so.
The publication also awards Catalonia for its strategy for attracting foreign investment among regions with more than four million inhabitants. That places it ahead of business areas as powerful as North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany, Scotland, and Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna in Italy. If you add in that Catalonia's GDP for the fourth quarter of 2017 and the year as a whole were above the pessimistic predictions made for the region, reaching 3.4% growth, three tenths of a percent above Spain's, it's worth putting the forecasts that come into quarantine from now on, as it's been shown that the political bias applied tends to push the real figures downwards.
The Catalan economy is demonstrating very strong performance, the fruit of its thick-woven industrial fabric, the strength of its SMEs and the constant growth in exports, and some of the credit has to go to the pro-independence government and vice-president and Economy minister Oriol Junqueras, abruptly dismissed by article 155. Tourism is suffering to some extent, but you have to take into account that it has suffered two important hits: the terrorist attacks on 17th August in Barcelona and Cambrils which, despite the success of the Mossos (Catalan police) is dismantling the cell, claimed a very high number of victims, and, secondly, the terrible images of the police repression of the 1st October referendum in various Catalan cities but which had serious repercussions for Barcelona's brand.
Every time you read eulogistic comments like those from the Financial Times you can't help but wonder how fast Catalonia could go if it could unfurl its wings and its full potential with a state in favour of it, and not permanently against. A question which, far from having a positive answer, always meets with something much worse than silence.