According to Business France’s report, France is the champion of attractiveness in Europe. The regions, by supporting different sectoral priorities, are at the forefront of this dynamic.
The detailed assessment of foreign investments in France, which will be published this Monday, May 6, was partly revealed in La Tribune Dimanche by the general director of Business France, Laurent Saint-Martin.
After the annual EY barometer, which placed France in first position among attractive countries for foreign investors in Europe, the results of Business France, the public agency which supports the international development of companies, confirms the trend, and points out the major role of regional centers of attraction.
In 2023, France will record 1,815 investment decisions and ranks first in Europe. These decisions to create or expand the site have made it possible to create or maintain 60,000 jobs in France. And this despite competition from other countries, including the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States which encourages national investments. According to Laurent Saint-Martin, interviewed by La Tribune Dimanche, “competitiveness is played out between continents”.
The general director of Business France attributes these good results in particular to France 2030 plan, launched in 2021, which provided 54 billion euros to support the sectors of the future and support the decarbonization of industry. According to the website of the Ministry of the Economy, 21 billion euros have already been committed. Decarbonization projects take pride of place, according to the report, concentrating 205 investment decisions.
Different sectoral priorities in the French regions
The report also highlights the major role of the regions which have developed different sectoral focuses. According to the infographics in the article, the sectoral orientation index, which measures the preponderance of a sector in a region compared to the national average, shows in particular a strong prism of electronic components in Brittany, Normandy, Auvergne-Rhône- Alps or Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. While for the agri-food industry, Brittany, Normandy and Occitanie are above the national averages. Laurent Saint-Martin welcomes these complementary dynamics, noting that if “Île-de-France remains first, no region is isolated anymore”.
“There is no longer a diagonal of the void in terms of investment”, analyzes Laurent Saint-Martin, general director of Business France
The detailed assessment reveals that one in two projects concerned towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants.
