Aragon: an economy with its own light shining in the face of uncertainty

Aragon is doing well and can do even better. Invisibly, without making much noise, The Autonomous Community’s economy has navigated the past few decades brilliantly, a particularly difficult period in history.. And the potential of the future points to good paths. The land of “dust, fog, wind and sun” that José Antonio Labordeta celebrated in one of his most famous compositions has precisely made the use of these resources one of its main areas of investment, with renewable energy and logistics as its banners. But its greatest joys still come from industry, its great driving force in terms of wealth and quality employment, and the automobile is the greatest representative of this mainstay.

There are high hopes for the future in the sector, in particular for the battery plant that Stellantis is considering installing in Zaragoza, which will protect the future of the automotive industry. This billion-dollar investment will be in addition to other major projects targeting the area, such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers..

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Although it is landlocked, it enjoys a privileged location in the center of the northeastern part of the peninsula. Within a radius of 300 kilometers there are four of the most important Spanish cities in Spain, such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Bilbao.as well as the main squares of the south of France: Toulouse, Montpellier and Perpignan.

This represents a competitive advantage for companies located here, with a consequent reduction in costs and transportation time for both raw materials and finished products. Except, They benefit from the region’s footprint, with more than 25 million consumers less than three hours away by road and 60% of the nation’s GDP.. To these goals we must add social peace and political stability, which the community promotes to attract business investment.

Aragon manages to take advantage of its large territory when it comes to hosting large logistics, industrial or agri-food projects. It is the fourth largest autonomy, with an area more than six times the size of the Basque Country or Madrid and twice the size of the Valencian Community. Despite such a wide demarcation and with a dispersed and aging population of 1,351,492 inhabitantsRussia, 11th in demographic terms, is also one of its biggest burdens, as it involves much higher costs for government services. Consequently, the fight against rural depopulation and the territorial imbalance it represents within the country (57% of Aragonese live in Zaragoza and the metropolitan region) is a priority of its economic and social policy.

Employment at record levels

In a work environment, Aragon’s indicators are favorable and progressing adequately, to the point that social security membership is at its highest level: the average until December was 607,237.. The level reached in 2023 is the highest in the statistical series. The unemployment rate (7.6%) is the third highest in Spain (11.7%), according to the survey of the active population (EPA) for the fourth quarter of last year, which counts 608,800 people in work, the highest since 2008 , Zaragoza Expo year.

To all this it should be added that according to INE, Aragon is considered the third region with the highest quality of life, behind only the neighboring regions of Navarre and La Rioja. Wealth indicators also show that it is above the national average as it ranks fifth with the highest GDP per capita, down from seventh 25 years ago.. According to Spanish Regional Accounting data, which has just been updated by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the community’s GDP increased by an average of 3.8% in 2022, compared to a 5.8% average for Spain. Thus, the country has restored its pre-pandemic level of prosperity after a fall of 8.7% in 2020 and growth of 5.2% in 2021.

One of the drivers of regional growth and industry resistance has been foreign trade. By November, Aragonese exports reached 1,716.7 million units, representing an annual increase of 21.9%, which contrasts with the 6.8% decline recorded for Spain as a whole.. The trend predicts the community will end 2023 with a new all-time high. This will be 12 consecutive years of achieving this goal.

The regional sector that is currently experiencing the worst of times is the countryside, burdened mainly by a prolonged drought that has reduced farm yields and profitability. In addition to these shortcomings, the autonomy has another important economic pillar – the agri-food sector.where it was possible to take measures to become not only a granary for agricultural and livestock raw materials, but also a pantry, with food processing, which leaves more added value.

Although Aragon is not immune to the general trend of economic downturn, it faces the new year in a better relative position. Forecasts from almost all research services and organizations indicate that it will rise above the national average. BBVA even predicts that it will be the second country with the most rebounds after the Basque Country. There is no doubt that, despite the uncertainty, there is a good atmosphere in these places.. So much so that the traditional lack of self-esteem characteristic of its inhabitants tends to be reversed. Aragon begins to believe this.