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Madrid holds half of the 11,800 million in tenders and subsidies given to firms by the NGEU funds until December 2022

Firms in the Valencian Region are the third largest recipients of aid, having received 887.6 million euros, or 7.5% of the total

The Valencia Region is the third Spanish region that has received the most Next Generation European (NGEU) funds for its firms, through tenders and subsidies. Until December 2022, 8,641 firms with headquarters in the region received 887.6 million euros, 7.5% of the 11,877 million euros granted to Spanish firms overall, according to data from the latest report of IvieLAB (Laboratory for the Analysis and Evaluation of Public Policy), a project created by the Ivie and the Valencian Regional Government. However, firms based in Madrid received the greatest amount of funding from the European Union, accounting for 50.9% of the funds granted in tenders and subsidies. This is far more than Catalonia (10.1%), the second region in terms of aid received.

According to the document “Evaluación de la participación de las empresas valencianas en los fondos Next Generation European Union”, prepared by Ivie’s Deputy Director, Joaquín Maudos, with economists Silvia Mollá and Juan Pérez, 75% of the funds received by Valencian firms came from tenders, and the remaining 25% from grants and public aid.

Of the total amount of funds allotted to firms, broken down by province, 75.9% was given to firms with headquarters in Valencia (673.7 million euros), 13.6% in Alicante (120.7 million) and the remaining 10.5% in Castellón (93.2 million). In addition, the analysis by size of company reveals that 62.8% of the total funds received by firms in the Valencia Region have been destined to small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

The construction industry accounts for 62.6% of the total NGEU funding received by the Valencian business fabric (555.8 million), while the services sector accounts for 29.4% (261.1 million). However, the amount is much lower in the rest of the sectors of the economy. This strong concentration of NGEU funds in construction activity is a distinguishing feature of the Valencian Community. It is also noteworthy that in the rest of the regions, 16.8% of the funds were allocated to the information and communications sector (ICT), while in the Valencia region, firms in this sector only received 3.4% of the funds.

Share of Valencian firms in state funds

In the specific case of state public sector funds granted to firms, those with headquarters in the Valencian Community rank fifth in the region, with a share of 5% of the 413.8 million euros received. Firms with headquarters in Madrid account for 53.7% (4,450 million) of the total NGEU funds granted.

Significant regional differences

The Valencian Community is below the national average in the weight of the funds granted in the regional GDP and in relation to the population. While the NGEU funds raised by Valencian firms represent 0.72% of the region’s GDP and 174 euros per inhabitant, these values increase to 0.91% of GDP and 249 euros per inhabitant on average across the Spanish regions. This calculation allows us to observe the relative position of the Valencian business fabric in comparison with the rest of the Spanish regions. In both scenarios, the Valencian Community occupies sixth position in the ranking, but there are significant regional differences, because the most accurate data comes from Madrid and represents 2.4% of GDP and 886 euros per inhabitant.