While the bad economic figures keep coming for France, particularly on the public debt, the EY firm is publishing a statistic this Thursday which should bring some comfort to the heart of the executive. For the fifth consecutive year, France remains the European champion in terms of attractiveness for foreign investment projects.
With 1,194 projects to set up or expand sites announced last year, foreign companies favored France more than the United Kingdom and Germany, which respectively concentrated 985 and 733 announcements, shows this annual barometer.
Bruno Le Maire satisfied
If the number of projects fell by 5% compared to the previous year, they concentrated more job creations, numbering 39,773 – a figure up 4% compared to 2022.
“Yes, the French economy is solid. Yes, she is attractive. And no, it’s not a coincidence! », Reacted the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire. “The stability of our supply policy is unanimously welcomed by investors: we will not deviate from it.”
The government has prioritized its attractiveness, against the backdrop of the desire to reindustrialize the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and to attract financial companies after Brexit, through reforms linked to the labor market and taxation.
The emphasis placed on reindustrialization seems to be bearing fruit, with 530 factory extension or installation projects having been announced in 2023 in France, far ahead of European competitors, and more than double the projects announced in 2015. “We dare to speak of reindustrialization. It’s real,” comments Marc Lhermitte, the author of this study showing that industrial projects are also accompanied by more than 20,000 job creations, again in first place on the continent.
The quality of the acclaimed workforce
“When we know a few years ago to what extent there was a difference in terms of image and attractiveness of Germany versus France in industry, in 2023 there will be six times more investments industrialists in France” than in its neighbor, for his part rejoiced the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Franck Riester.
Among the French qualities recognized by foreign investors are the quality of the workforce and the legal and regulatory environment, according to the barometer published a few days before the annual Choose France summit on May 13 in Paris. At the low end, energy prices and cost competitiveness are seen as handicaps.
France, on the other hand, suffers from the number of jobs created on average per project, at 35 compared to 49 in Germany, 61 in the United Kingdom and 299 in Spain, at the top of the ranking. One of the reasons is that France is primarily the place where investors carry out site extensions, rather than projects starting from scratch.
