How Italy is attracting foreign investors
What is behind the Italian great 2016 performance
The EY Attractiveness Survey Italy - Foreign Investmentsback on track stands out as a key tool to analyse Italian attractiveness to foreign investments in relationship to other European countries.
The latest report is based on data collected in 2016 and it has given quite remarkable results. In fact, Italy ranked 16th in the European investment chart having 89 projects backed by Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). Compared to 2015, Italy has registered 62% increase in FDI, which is an outstanding achievement among "mature economies". In general, Italy has performed even better than the UK, Germany, France and Spain.
The EY report has also highlighted an improved situation regarding Italian labour market: FDIs have created 2.654 new positions in 2016, determining 92% as general growth. Fellow European countries are still the major investors in the Bel Paese, followed by the US, which can also be considered as a major foreign investor (27%). Chinese investments are still marginal at the moment (2%) but experts envisage a future significant growth.
As highlighted by Donato Iacovone - CEO of EY Italia and Managing Partner of the Mediterranean Area - "international investors continued to choose Italy in spite of the unstable political setting, the bank system and high taxes." Mr Iacovone has also emphasised how Italian strength mostly relies on the resources offered by the Italian landscape, which constitute a vital asset in the eyes of foreign investments. Notwithstanding the attractiveness of Italy to foreign investors, it is still necessary that local politicians and entrepreneurs keep working to improve the environment and attract more and more investments.
From another perspective, EY study also highlighted that Italian foreign investments have significantly increased: in 2016, Italy carried out 187 projects which mark 26% increase compared to 2015. Overall, within the European borders, 2016 has been a very positive year for foreign investments: 5.845 new projects financed by FDIs were launched (15% more than 2015) which have created 259.673 new jobs (+19%).
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