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France remained highly attractive to FDIs in 2020 despite crisis, report says

Though impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, France remains one of the most attractive countries to foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Europe in 2020.

In 2020, 1,215 foreign investment projects were directed to France according to annual review of FDIs published by the French government late February. France kept an important flow of FDIs, containing the drop to -17%, a good performance compared to the flow of FDIs globally (-40%) and in Europe (-19%).  

According to Franck Riester, French minister in charge of Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, this contained drop underlines “a resilience of French attractiveness”. These results are promising in a context of “increased competition between European countries to attract foreign capital” added Christophe Lecourtier, managing director of Business France. Such resilience can be attributed to favorable policies easing fiscal charges and a plan to invest 11 billion EUR by 2022 in technologies for the future. Such measures were perceived favorably by 90% of investors according to the 2020 barometer of French attractiveness. 

Thanks to these 1,215 investment decisions in France, 30,000 new jobs have been created in 2020 and 34,500 jobs sustained. Sector wise, health (drugs, applied biotechnologies, and medical equipment) and renewable energy related projects surged, while hospitality or transport & storage sectors suffered without surprise. Moreover, one fourth of the overall FDI projects were dedicated to developing production sites, and 12% were investments related to research and development (R&D). A good performance for the country, which highlights France’s emphasis on innovation, start-ups and technology, alongside the “French Tech” initiative. As Bruno Le Maire, minister of Economics and Finance, recalled, these economic results must be inscribed within Europe’s new economic recovery plan, totaling €1.8 trillion to help rebuild a post COVID-19 Europe, adopted by the European Commission on December 17 2020. 

As of now, there are more than 14,000 foreign companies established in Korea, while subsidiaries controlled by foreign groups contribute to 21% of Fench GDP according to INSEE.

Learn more information by reading Business France’s 2020 report:

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