France attracted more investment projects in 2023 than in 2022, President Emmanuel Macron revealed this Thursday, February 29, welcoming on the X network “the confidence” of partners and the French “attractiveness strategy”.
“Thanks to reforms and our attractiveness strategy, France is attracting ever more international investment. Our partners trust us! It’s good for employment and the life of the territories,” wrote the French leader, commenting the results ofan annual report from Business France.
According to this report, France attracted 1,815 investment projects last year, a number up compared to 2022 thanks to a new calculation method. This harvest could create or maintain 59,254 jobs in the region, a number again up slightly over one year. “France is consolidating its attractiveness in an unstable international context,” Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Franck Riester told AFP, highlighting competitiveness and structural reforms since 2017.
The Americans, the first investors
The United States remains at the top of the largest project providers: 305 projects representing 17,000 jobs have been completed. Germany comes next with 272 projects, then the United Kingdom with 173 projects, and Belgium tied with Italy (126 projects). The United States retained the lead in the ranking despite the report published the day before by the American Chamber of Commerce in France (AmCham) which saw French attractiveness “erode” last year.
Without the new accounting method of the Business France report which this year integrated investments linked to digitalization or decarbonization but not generating jobs, the balance sheet for 2023 peaks at 1,703 projects, slightly lower than the record harvest of 1,725 projects recorded in 2022. These announcements also concern investment decisions over a three-year horizon, which do not constitute a definitive or binding commitment on the part of those who carry them out.
The government was nevertheless delighted with these results, especially since they highlight the priorities in the major France 2030 investment plan: 559 projects out of the 1,815 thus focus on “segments priorities targeted by France 2030”, and a third in strategic sectors, detailed a source close to the Minister for Foreign Trade. The creation of establishments and extensions are equivalent in the projects published Thursday (47% and 45% of projects respectively), and 73% of industrial projects are focused in municipalities of less than 20,000 inhabitants.