Business In Madrid

After almost a decade of recession, the Spanish capital is back on its feet with foreign investment and a flourishing tech scene

- Marisa Cannon

It’s late afternoon when I arrive in Madrid and, heaving my case up the Metro steps, I’m welcomed by a blast of hot, musty air and the toot of a trumpet somewhere not too far away. A group of burly men in fluorescent mesh string vests stroll past, and, in the hope of getting my bearings, I follow them towards the sound of swelling chatter.

As we approach the square of Puerta del Sol, with its surrounding buildings draped in rainbow flags, it dawns on me it’s the final hours of World Pride – a week of open-air concerts, flotilla parades and street parties in the name of LGBT rights.

Back in 2008, these celebrations might have been tainted by the grim reality of the global financial crisis. Spain was hit particularly hard, prompted by the collapse of its property market, which had boomed ever since the launch of the euro in 1999. Austerity followed, along with a series of bank failures and a spike in unemployment, at its height in 2013 reaching 26 percent.

Today, the darkest days of recession are over thanks to a combination of quantitative easing, falling oil prices and growing exports from large Spanish companies such as Inditex, owner of Zara and Massimo Dutti, and infrastructure firm Ferrovial, which developed Heathrow’s T5 and new T2 and is now working on a joint venture with London’s Crossrail.

Smart government policies have also helped to attract highly coveted foreign investment – from e-commerce global giants Alibaba and Amazon, alongside digital and fintech providers such as UST Global, Ebury and Ria, among others.