Brexit helps increase foreign business investment in Flanders
Flanders Investment and Trade reports that a record number of foreign investment projects were launched in our region during 2021. Many these came about due to the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU. There was a total of 295 new foreign investment projects in Flanders during 2021. This represented the potential creation of 6,233 new jobs, Flanders Investment and Trade wrote in a Tweet.
The Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (nationalist) shared the Tweet adding that “Despite the coronavirus crisis, foreign investors created a record number of Flemish jobs in 2021,”
Last year new foreign investment in our region’s economy totaled 2.86 billion euro, a rise of half a billion euro on the figures for 2020. Brexit has served to increase the number of British investors in Flanders. Mr Jambon told the press agency Belga that “Flanders offers assets for those who want to protect themselves against the impact of the Brexit”.
UK companies accounted for 49 foreign investment projects in Flanders last year. 30 of these cited Brexit as the reason for them decided to start doing business from a base in Flanders. Since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 a total of 95 companies have made investments in Flanders to ensure that they are better protected from the impact of Brexit. This has led to the creation of just over 3,000 new jobs. Meanwhile, foreign investment as a whole increased by 32.14% in 2020.
Despite Brexit fueling interest from UK companies in investing in our region, US companies still top the list when it comes to foreign companies investing in Flanders. During 2021 there were 64 investment projects by companies from the United States. There were 48 each by companies from the UK and The Netherlands, while French companies accounted for 24 investment projects in Flanders.
Just over half of all foreign investment projects were by companies that were not yet present in Flanders.