A split between Spain and Catalonia would cause a major political shake-up in the country but would also have significant consequences for the economy of both sides, experts have told CNBC.
Voters in the prosperous Spanish region are set to be asked next month to choose if they want to secede from Spain following a decree signed on September 7. “Catalonia belongs to this world that looks forward, and that’s why it will decide its own future on the 1st of October,” Carles Puigdemont, the president of the Catalonia region, said defiantly earlier this month.
Pro-independence lawmakers hope the northeastern region will gain complete political and economic autonomy from Spain despite the referendum putting Catalonia in open defiance of central authorities in Madrid. Spanish police are reported to have raided several departments of Catalonia’s regional government this week as tensions rise over the banned independence referendum.
As the most prosperous of Spain’s 17 regions, Catalonia houses roughly 19 percent of Spain’s economy, benefiting from tourism, exports, manufacturing, and industry.
