Foreign Business Investment in France Hits New Record

Foreign business investment into France jumped 40% last year to reach €68 billion, the highest figure on record. The investment figure compares with €49 billion in 2005 and €19 million in 2004. Whilst these figure place France in the top handful of places in the world ranking for foreign investment, the UK and the USA continue to lead the field, with the UK gaining over twice that of France and the USA, three times as much. The majority of the investment came from the neighbouring countries of Europe, but the single top investing country was the USA, which accounted for 24% of the total investment. It was followed by Germany on 16% and the United Kingdom on 10.8%. Surprising as it may seem, some 64% of this investment went into the manufacturing sector, mainly in aeronautics, chemicals and material and equipment. The most popular regions for investment remain the Ile de France and Rhône-Alpes, accounting respectively for 22.5% and 10.4% of total investment, ahead of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur with 9.4%. The new investment is estimated to have created 40,000 new jobs. One in seven French workers now works for a foreign company. This compares to one in ten in the UK, and one in twenty in the USA.