Catalan economy

Catalonia is a country of limited natural resources that owes its prosperity to its strategic location. The primary economic sector is nearly symbolic – it employs a mere 3% of the workforce. Nevertheless, it is provided with some very powerful subsectors that compete all over the world, as is the case of cava, wine, pigs, fruits or meat products.

The Catalan economy has a very important industrial basis. It is based on the manufacturing industry, originally textile, but which has evolved to other sectors such as cars and accesories, chemicals, food, shipbuilding, furniture, etc. The manufacture of electrical appliances and last generation computer and telematics equipment is also becoming increasingly important. Graphic arts and the publishing industry constitute a decisive sector within the Catalan industry, as well as construction, whose growth is directly related to tourist development.

Recently, a wide and diversified tertiary sector has joined the latter and has also experienced a considerable development. It is a main contributor to the GDP and employment with services involving quantity and quality. Here, not only tourism and services associated with it stand out, but also the great number of companies working with publicity, the exploitation of new technologies and the creation of contents for Internet.

In relation to the financial system, the great savings banks, which constitute the core of the Catalan financial system, have achieved remarkable centralization and power. They have been and are crucial in the structure of savings and investments in the country. Jointly, they put together nearly 70% of the Catalan private deposits. These savings banks have a decisive influence on the large Catalan and Spanish companies.

In the Barcelona Stock Exchange, fully integrated into the international stock exchange system, together with the traditional stock market, progress is evident in the futures market and the trading of stocks belonging to small and medium-sized enterprises in a way resembling the British United Securities Market or the French Second Marché.

(text from www.gencat.cat)