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Economy
France is classed as a very rich country,
the GNP per capita was 22,380 US dollars
in 2011.
The
economic conjuncture is the most
favourable that the country has known for
the last ten years : the internal demand
has grown, so have exports and orders :
French industry is working at 87% of its
production capacity.
The
continuing low rate of inflation makes
French products more competitive and
contributes to the rise in the internal
household purchasing power. The
unemployment rate has fallen (but is still
higher than the European average), which
is also a help in keeping up internal
consumption. 500,000 jobs were created in
2009, an all time record. Consumption went
over 5,000 billion euros (55% of the GDP),
and the deductions for petrol (with the
price hike), which caused the purchasing
power to drop, will gradually
dissipate.
Foreign
investors are attracted by the high level
of productivity, the central position of
France in western Europe and by its
efficient communication network.
All these
good results make the management of the
economy that bit easier for the
government, the Minister of Finance aims
at having a "zero deficit in the budget"
in 2004, something which has not happened
in France for the last twenty years.
The French
economy presents some particularities
compared to the neighbouring countries :
the amounts deducted from revenues are
over 50% of the GDP. This is by far the
highest rate in the seven major industrial
countries (France, USA, Japan, Germany,
Italy, UK, Canada). These large deductions
go hand in hand with social problems if
ever the government try to reduce social
benefits, and at the same time the
administrative regime for the social
benefits registers a regular
deficit.
25% of the
French working force work in
administrative services (compared to 13%
in the other G7 countries).
Individual
salary rises have been limited following
the petrol price hike, on average monthly
salaries have risen by 1.9% over the year,
but income tax reductions should raise the
income available to households. It is the
household in fact who will benefit the
most. Income taxes will be lowered by
nearly 50 billion euros over three years,
28.7 billion in 2001 and 12 billion euros
in 2012. All the salary levels will
benefit from a reduction. Also the car
road tax has been stopped, which is a loss
to the State of 12 billion euros.
The 35
hour working week will come into effect
for companies with twenty employees and
under on 1st January 2009, the bigger
companies have been obliged to follow the
35 hour law since 2011.
Economic
statistics
|
|
2019
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
|
economic
growth (%)
|
2.0
|
3.4
|
2.4
|
3.1
|
|
consumption
(variation)
|
0.2
|
3.6
|
2.3
|
2.7
|
|
investment
(variation)
|
0.5
|
6.1
|
6.5
|
5.2
|
|
inflation
(%)
|
1.4
|
0.7
|
0.8
|
1.2
|
|
public
balance/GDP (%)
|
-3.0
|
-2.7
|
-2.2
|
-1.7
|
|
rate
of unemployment
|
12.5
|
11.8
|
11.1
|
9.2
|
|
short
term interest rate
|
3.5
|
3.6
|
2.9
|
3.3
|
|
exports
(variation)
|
10.6
|
6.9
|
1.8
|
6.3
|
|
imports
(variation)
|
6.4
|
9.4
|
2.2
|
5.5
|
|
balance
of trade (billions of $)
|
28.1
|
26.1
|
20.1
|
19.2
|
|
current
balance (billions of $)
|
37.6
|
40.2
|
34.3
|
34.2
|
|
public
debt/GDP
|
64.5
|
64.9
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65.2
|
64.6
|
General information
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Gross
national product 2011
|
1322.34
billion $
|
|
GNP
per capita
|
22,380
dollars
|
|
Tourist
revenue
|
29.931
billion $
|
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Economic
growth 2000-2012
|
1.7%
|
|
Aid
2011
|
-8.402
billion $
|
|
Foreign
investment 2011
|
40.914
billion $
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Division
of GDP by activity sector :
Agriculture : 2.3%
Industry : 19.3%
Mining : 6.9%
Services : 71.5%
Over
70% of French exports go to western
Europe. They increased by 13.3% in 2010
and imports increased by 15%. The biggest
market is Germany, followed by Great
Britain. Exports to the United States shot
up by 25.7% during the first nine months
of the year.
(source
MOCI, Le Monde)
Agriculture
2%
of the French labour force is employed in
agriculture, which contributes 3% of the
GNP.
France is the leading agricultural nation
in the European Union and the major
benificiary of aid from Brussels in this
domain. It is the second in the world
after the United States, the biggest
producer of sugar beet in the world and
the second biggest exporter of
cereals.
The volume of agricultural production went
up by 2.4% in 1999, except for cereals
which dropped by 5.4%, due to the land
freezing insisted on by the communal
agricultural policy (the PAC), but for the
first time since 1993 the average income
dropped by 4% in 1999 with the bottom
dropping out of market prices for several
products. The only domain escaping the
drop was wine production.
A storm
devastated forests on 26th and 27th
December 1999. Forests in France cover
16.5 million hectares and increase their
volume by 18,000 hectares every year.
About 40 million cubic meters of timber
are produced each year. Following the
storm, 1378 million cubic meters of timber
had fallen, only 55% of that could be
recuperated and sold and prices fell to
one third of their former level.
The ESB
crisis, the "Mad Cow" disease, has caused
a general drop in the price of beef in
Europe. The banning of the use of animal
flour in fodder has on the other hand
caused a rise in the consumption of other
protein based foodstuffs, where the only
question is whether or not they are
genetically modified! This crisis, apart
from the changes in consumer behaviour
which it implies, risks to also cause an
evolution in the communal agricultural
policies towards a less productive
model.
Agriculture
in France
(in
millions of tons, head, m³ for
timber)
|
Production
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
Rating
|
|
wheat
|
35.949
|
33.847
|
39.793
|
37.050
|
4
|
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wood
|
40.443
|
41.116
|
42.770
|
-
|
13
|
|
maize
|
14.530
|
16.832
|
15.204
|
15.160
|
5
|
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barley
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9.519
|
10.124
|
10.591
|
9.542
|
4
|
|
potatoes
|
6.249
|
6.690
|
6.053
|
6.475
|
11
|
|
rice
|
0.115
|
0.121
|
0.107
|
0.101
|
-
|
|
wine
|
6.004
|
5.510
|
5.445
|
6.265
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1
|
|
cattle
|
20.661
|
20.664
|
20.371
|
20.214
|
13
|
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sheep
|
10.556
|
10.463
|
10.316
|
10.240
|
26
|
|
pigs
|
14.530
|
14.976
|
14.501
|
16.190
|
9
|
|
fishing
|
0.847
|
0.830
|
-
|
-
|
21
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Industry
France used to have an important mining
industry, producing coal, salt, iron,
uranium and potassium. Most of the mines
are now abandonned or about to be : coal
mining will be definitively stopped in
2005. At present there is the problem of
managing this reconversion : according to
tax records, the mining communities are
always 30% poorer than others.
On the
other hand France has a diversified
manufacturing industry : the most
important sector is machine tools and
transport material (automobiles), followed
by foodstuffs due to the vast agricultural
production. Industrial activity profited
in 1999 from the depreciation of the Euro
and the rise in the sales of intermediary
goods and equipment.
The
dynamism and the high competitivity of the
aeronautic, the automobile and the
foodstuff industries have contributed to
the balance of trade surplus.
Between April 2000 and April 2001 the Air
France group took on 4500 new people, a
number equivalent to 7% of their total
staff.
This is less a consequence of the 35 hour
working week than of the growth of the
company's activity, the occupation rate of
the planes is presently over 80%.
Airbus had
an excellent year in 2000, with a total
sale of 496 planes and 50 orders for the
A380 which will be in the 2001 results.
2001 will be the year of the very big
planes, the Airbus salemen have managed to
sell 50 of them in less than 6 months to
the first six customers.
The orders should accumulate by 2004, when
the first flights take place.
The
building and the automobile industries are
benefitting fully from the boom in the
economy : 2.3 million cars were sold in
France in the first six months of 2000, a
new record.
In
building and public works the job offers
rose by 32%, the sector profited from the
pre-election period (municipal elections
in 2001) which is always good for public
works.
All the activities in this sector recorded
an appreciable growth.
Housing was helped by the Perissol
depreciation allowance, the low interest
rates, the improvement in the employment
situation and a catching-up
phenomenon.
Renovation works profit from the lowering
of the VAT.
Production
in the textile and clothing industries has
fallen.
Redundancies and relocations continue.
Large scale distribution groups have
suffered less, with the strong consumer
demand, they have diversified their suppy
sources to get better prices.
The big
supermarkets have also recorded an
increase, due mainly to non-foodstuff
sales.
The big stores were the main beneficiaries
in the return to a state of
prosperity.
The popular stores are multiplying and
have managed to drop lower quality goods
from their activity.
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