France’s inward investment results for 2009 were announced on March 9, 2010 by French Finance Minister Ms. Christine Lagarde and the Regional Development Minister, Mr. Michel Mercier: 639 job-creating foreign investment projects in France were decided upon last year, generating 29,889 jobs.
With project numbers higher than in 2007, and nearly as high as in 2008, the results offer a measure of France’s economic attractiveness in a period marked by a sharp decline in foreign investment flows throughout the world.
The global economic crisis has had a variety of effects on investment in France:
- “Long-term” investments from the United States and Japan in particular have slowed;
- Conversely, regional strategies have benefited, with existing regular growth in projects from Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands continuing in 2009;
- Proof of this intra-European energy is that Germany in 2009 became the leading foreign investor in terms of job creation in France, ahead of the United States;
- Promising growth was recorded in ‘green’ industries and in the energy sector.
France’s policy of enhancing the country’s economic attractiveness, which has strengthened France’s hand in innovation-rich and high-value-added sectors, is paying dividends:
- The number of foreign investments in R&D activities doubled in 2009. These projects are being attracted by France’s research tax credit and its innovation clusters, which already count 528 foreign companies among their members.
- The “Grenelle laws” of France’s “Green New Deal” have ignited great interest from foreign investors; investment projects in the energy sector have doubled since 2007, while renewable energy projects tripled over the course of the last year (59 projects in 2009).
- Despite stiff competition to attract projects involving decision-making centers, France attracted three times more company headquarters last year than in 2007.
These results owe much to the reforms which have been undertaken in the last three years. The continued pursuit of such reforms, in an unforgiving international environment, will ultimately determine France’s future competitiveness and the attractiveness of its regions.
David Appia
