Country Overview
The quality of Spain’s regulatory frameworks support the creation of new businesses which, combined with fair and transparent procurement processes, promote competition among suppliers. This drives better value for money from infrastructure investment and delivers higher quality outcomes. High levels of public debt and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic also present as significant challenges to Spain’s ability to invest in new infrastructure.
See Full Overview Data
GDP per capita
30,090 USD
Population
47.4 million persons
Infrastructure quality
90.3 (0-100 best)
Infrastructure investment
3.0% of GDP
Infrastructure gap
0.1% of GDP

Driver Overview

This section shows a country’s rank, ranking change and score for each of the eight drivers. It also categorises each country’s driver performance on a scale from “Emerging” (score from 0-20) to “Global Leader” (score from 80-100).

Driver
Rank
Score /100
Emerging Aspiring Contender Top performer Global Leader
- No ranking change Ranking increase Ranking decrease

Rank

Score /100

Best practice

17
2
74.9
Top performer
21
-
70.4
Top performer
23
6
80.4
Top performer
38
14
74.3
Contender
21
12
84.5
Top performer
52
7
26.2
Aspiring
25
-
51.2
Top performer
20
2
52.5
Top performer

Metric Overview

Strengths

Cost to start a business

According to the World Bank, the cost of starting a business in Spain is 3.9% of income per capita, below the High Income Countries’ average of 4.7%, easing the entry of new firms.

Registering property

In Spain it takes 13 days to register a property. An efficient registration process reduces project cost and risk, incentivising investment and reducing delays.

Procurement of PPPs

Spain’s procurement processes are fair and transparent. Fair and transparent processes encourage more participation and competition, which help drive value for money.

Cost to start a business

According to the World Bank, the cost of starting a business in Spain is 3.9% of income per capita, below the High Income Countries’ average of 4.7%, easing the entry of new firms.

Registering property

In Spain it takes 13 days to register a property. An efficient registration process reduces project cost and risk, incentivising investment and reducing delays.

Procurement of PPPs

Spain’s procurement processes are fair and transparent. Fair and transparent processes encourage more participation and competition, which help drive value for money.

Top Performing Metrics

Top Performing Metrics

This is defined by the metrics with the highest unweighted score out of 100. 

High income country average

Procurement:
Procurement of PPPs

Opportunities to Grow

Market sounding and/or assessment

According to the World Bank, there is no formal requirement for a market sounding process across all infrastructure sectors in Spain. However, there is one for the road sector. Adding a market sounding process to other sectors could allow the government to determine if there is an interest from investors and lenders to provide commercial financing for projects.

Long term GDP growth trend

Spain’s long-term GDP growth trend is 0.45%, below the High Income Countries' average of 1.8%. Long-term growth rates signal a country’s capacity to fund infrastructure from future growth. The COVID-19 pandemic may impact this GDP growth trend.

Value of closed PPP infrastructure deals

The value of closed PPP infrastructure deals is low in Spain compared to the High Income Countries’ average of 23. A low value may reflect government choices to publicly fund infrastructure and may be further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Market sounding and/or assessment

According to the World Bank, there is no formal requirement for a market sounding process across all infrastructure sectors in Spain. However, there is one for the road sector. Adding a market sounding process to other sectors could allow the government to determine if there is an interest from investors and lenders to provide commercial financing for projects.

Long term GDP growth trend

Spain’s long-term GDP growth trend is 0.45%, below the High Income Countries' average of 1.8%. Long-term growth rates signal a country’s capacity to fund infrastructure from future growth. The COVID-19 pandemic may impact this GDP growth trend.

Value of closed PPP infrastructure deals

The value of closed PPP infrastructure deals is low in Spain compared to the High Income Countries’ average of 23. A low value may reflect government choices to publicly fund infrastructure and may be further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Metrics to Improve

Metrics to Improve

This is defined by the metrics with the lowest weighted score out of 100, such that these metrics would have the greatest impact on the overall score.

For metrics that have binary outcomes (yes=100/no=0), no comparative income group average is reported.

High income country average

Funding capacity:
Long term GDP growth trend

Detailed Data

This section shows country data for each of the 41 metrics. The figures in brackets denote the change in score since InfraCompass 2017. 

Note that all data has been normalised on a scale of 1-100. For raw metric data, please download the complete InfraCompass 2020 dataset. 

Where relevant, some metric scores have been inverted, such that all metrics have positive relationships with good infrastructure outcomes. For example, since lower compliance costs make it easier to invest in infrastructure, the normalised value of ‘number of procedures to start a business’ has been reversed such that lower number of procedures are scored closer to 100, and higher numbers closer to 0. In other words, a score of 0 indicates a poor performance, rather than 0 number of procedures.

Governance Regulatory Permits Planning Procurement Activity Funding Financial
Driver
Rank
Score /100
Emerging Aspiring Contender Top performer Global Leader
- No ranking change Ranking increase Ranking decrease

Metric

Spain

High Income Countries Average

Source Link

28.2%

Recovery rate

The recovery rate is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganisation, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings.

77.5 (-0.8)
68.3

20.7%

Rule of law

World Governance Composite Indicator reflecting perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. The rule of law reflects whether the law imposes limits of power on the state, private sector and individuals.

69.4 (-0.2)
74.3

18.1%

Post-completion reviews

Whether the country conducts post-completion reviews on infrastructure projects to ensure the forecast outcomes are being achieved.

Yes
-

15.1%

Shareholder governance

Measures the governance practices that protect shareholders through three dimensions: the extent of shareholder rights index (shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions), the extent of ownership and control index (governance safeguards protecting shareholders from undue board control and entrenchment), and the extent of corporate transparency index (corporate transparency on ownership stakes).

56.7 (+3.3)
48.1

12.8%

Political stability and absence of violence score

Measures perceptions of the likelihood of political instability and/or politically-motivated violence, including terrorism. Estimate gives the country's score on the aggregate indicator, in units of a standard normal distribution i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5.

54.2 (-2.6)
61.9

5%

Infrastructure or PPP agency

Whether an infrastructure agency exists to coordinate an integrated approach to infrastructure delivery and policy.

Yes
-

Spain

High Income Countries Average

77.5 (-0.8)
68.3
69.4 (-0.2)
74.3
Yes
-
56.7 (+3.3)
48.1
54.2 (-2.6)
61.9
Yes
-

Country Overview Data

The quality of Spain’s regulatory frameworks support the creation of new businesses which, combined with fair and transparent procurement processes, promote competition among suppliers. This drives better value for money from infrastructure investment and delivers higher quality outcomes. High levels of public debt and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic also present as significant challenges to Spain’s ability to invest in new infrastructure.
GDP per capita

30,090 USD

Population

47.4 million persons

Infrastructure quality

90.3 (0-100 best)

Infrastructure investment

3.0% of GDP

Infrastructure gap

0.1% of GDP

GDP

1,398 USD billion

GDP growth rate

2.2%

GDP per capita growth rate

-2.5%

Gini coefficient

36.2 (0-100 worst)

Gross Government Debt

96.0% of GDP

Inflation rate

0.7%

Summary credit rating

70.0 (0-100 best)

Unemployment rate

14.7%

Urbanisation ratio

80.0% of total population

Road connectivity

100.0 (0-100 best)

Quality of road infrastructure

5.7 (1-7 best)

Efficiency of train services

5.4 (1-7 best)

Efficiency of air transport services

5.6 (1-7 best)

Efficiency of seaport services

5.4 (1-7 best)

Electricity access

100.0% of population

Electricity supply quality

9.5% of output lost

Exposure to unsafe drinking water

0.4% of population

Reliability of water supply

6.6 (1-7 best)

Digital Adoption Index

0.8 (0-1 best)

Mobile-broadband subscriptions

98.5 per 100 population

Fixed-broadband Internet subscriptions

32.0 per 100 population