The capital city effect explains part of why the State invested more than twice as much in Madrid as in Catalonia last year. The other part is because the actual spending on works is lower in the Catalan community than in the one hosting the capital.
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Close to 1.2 billion euros were invested by the State in just four ministries (see attached chart) that were fully allocated to the community of Madrid, while Catalonia did not even receive 200 million. The IGAE (General State Intervention) statistics analyze the investment that can be regionalized by communities. There is always a part that cannot be divided by autonomous communities and is presented in an aggregated manner in another statistic, so the data released on Friday show what is assigned to each community.
The cited report assigned an investment of almost 301 million in Madrid from the Ministry of Digital Transition compared to barely 6,000 euros in Catalonia. In the case of the Ministry of the Interior, Madrid received an investment of 288 million versus 5 million in Catalonia. In Defense, it was 257 million in Madrid and less than 600,000 euros in Catalonia. In the Ministry of Transport, more than 346 million went to Madrid and 179 to Catalonia.
The director of the study service of the Barcelona Chamber, Joan Ramon Rovira, explains that this headquarters effect or capital effect has a very significant impact on State investments in aggregate terms. Rovira recalls that investments are not only about building infrastructures like roads or train tracks but, for example, equipping ministries with computer equipment or telecommunications systems. And since most ministries are in Madrid, it is normal for that investment to be concentrated there.
The employers’ association accuses the State of suffocating the Catalan economy, deteriorating services, and hindering competitiveness
But in the works chapter, Madrid also receives more. The employers’ association Foment yesterday cited the bidding statistics as an example, which is the step prior to the start of a public work. Lluís Moreno, vice president of Foment, stated that in the last three years, between 2023 and 2025, Madrid accumulated 3.274 billion in bids and Catalonia 2.538. That is 736 million less for the Catalan community.
The president of the Chamber of Contractors of Works of Catalonia also believes that a change is necessary to ensure that the State executes the planned investments. In a statement, Foment del Treball, chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre, described the low level of State investment in Catalonia last year as “unsustainable, intolerable, and unacceptable.”
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On Friday it was revealed that the State invested a total of 1.321 billion in Catalonia in 2025, equivalent to 8.6% of all spending in the communities that can be regionalized by autonomous communities. Foment warned that the “repeated non-compliance” with State investments “is suffocating the Catalan economy, deteriorating public services, and hindering the competitiveness of companies.” As a solution, the business organizations demand the transfer of funds and management of actions to the Generalitat.
For Foment, the problem of the investment that Catalonia “systematically” fails to receive is not a one-off event but something “structural” that repeats year after year. If execution is compared, it fell to 57.4% in 2025, four points less than in 2024 and 13 more than in 2023, the last year with budgets.
Foment assures that Madrid obtained more work bids than Catalonia in the last three years
Although the investment figure increases annually, a “very significant” part remains unexecuted, the employers’ association criticizes. For the entity, a crucial fact is the lack of technical personnel and resources from the State Administration in Catalonia, which causes the Generalitat to end up managing the processing of bids, which are delayed, as in state roads or Adif.
Foment proposes either increasing the State technical staff and necessary resources or transferring the resources and management of actions to the Generalitat.
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