Andalusian exports to the United Kingdom increased by 12.8% in 2021until reaching 2,256 million eurosas reported by the Councilor for Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities of the Board, Rogelio Velasco, in the Andalusian Parliament.
However, Velasco has assured that this progress experienced in exports to the british market “is less intense than that drawn by the region’s trade relations with foreign countries, which grew by 23.9%».
It should be noted that Andalusia closed 2021 with the best export record in its history (34,552 million euros) and a year-on-year growth of 24.2%three points above the national average.
Best result since 2017
As reported by the Board in a note, the 12.8% rise in exports to the British country represents the best result since 2017although the volume continues to be lower than in 2016, the year in which the referendum of the Brexit. In that exercise, sales to the British market stood at 2,554.2 million euros.
?? Exports to the United Kingdom grow by almost 13% in 2021, to €2,256M
?️ @rogeliovelascop stands out in @ParliamentAnd that British investment in #Andalusia between last January and September it rises to €25.3M, 8% morehttps://t.co/RImXwiesnN pic.twitter.com/l324nHpQfR— Ministry of Economic Transformation (@EconomiaAnd) March 15, 2022
To explain this evolution, Velasco pointed out that “the improvement in the British economy is being reflected mainly in the growing demand for goods that the country makes in other regions of the world.” However, he has pointed out that “the problems of freight transport are causing a supply crisis that can affect their rate of growth.
On the other hand, the head of Economic Transformation has also referred to the investment in Andalusia carried out by the United Kingdom, assuring that between last January and September it rose to €25.3 million8% higher than that registered in the same period of the previous year.
tourism
In the field of tourism, Velasco has emphasized that “the pandemic It has conditioned the sector in a very negative way, which has only partially recovered in 2021.”
As indicated, the arrival of visitors from British lands increased by 36.6% last year, after the 82.5% drop suffered in 2020, accounting for a total of 701,215 tourists. That figure is, as he has stressed, “still well below the more than three million British tourists that the community received in 2019 before Covid-19.”
As for the Spanish cross-border workers in Gibraltarthe Minister of Economic Transformation has shown that this group has continued to increase in 2021, with a rise in December of 3.2% year-on-year, until a all-time highat the end of one year, 9,753 workers. Compared to December 2016, this figure represents an increase of 35%.
Velasco has made it clear in the Andalusian Chamber that “the Brexit has had a negative impact for Andalusia in terms of lost income from merchandise exports and tourism. In this regard, he added that “the serious Covid-19 crisis affects both the falls produced in 2020 and the growth in 2021, altering any analysis.” Hence, he has clarified that “it will be necessary to wait to know the results of the year 2022 to be able to assess the impact of the effective exit of the United Kingdom from the EU, which occurred on January 1, 2021.”
Similarly, Velasco has alluded to the economic situation being experienced by the United Kingdompointing out that the recovery in 2021 has been greater than that of the European Union, with a real GDP growth of 7.5%, 2.3 points above the European average (5.2%). However, he has clarified that said increase is still 2.6% below the level it had in 2019, while in the Union it is 1.2% lower.
