News
Thursday, January 10, 2013
> New measures to attract foreign investors to France
The French Ministry for the Economy and Finance has just released new details of France’s drive to increase its investment attractiveness to boost employment and business in the country.
With 20,000 foreign companies already doing business on its soil, and 700 new job-creating foreign investment decisions being made annually, France is a leading destination for foreign direct investment. In a global environment characterized by increasing mobility of international capital and talent, and by renewed competition between different economies, the French government is seeking to consolidate France’s position as the leading European country for investment in industry, and to improve its performance in attracting other value-creating investments. New targets have been set of attracting 1,000 foreign investment decisions and 300 new companies to France per year by 2017.
As such, the French government is placing France’s investment and economic attractiveness at the heart of its policies to recapture global market share, a process initiated by France’s “National Pact for Growth, Competitiveness and Employment” published in November 2012.
To meet its targets, the French government will begin by ensuring the implementation of key measures of the Pact to improve France’s investment attractiveness, including:
1/ Implementing the new competitiveness and employment tax credit to reduce company labor costs, starting in January 2013.
2/ Stabilizing five key tax measures for companies, including France’s research tax credit in particular, and simplifying administrative formalities for companies.
3/ Providing finance for companies and innovation through the State Investment Bank and the “National Investment Program”, with the latter concentrating particularly on breakthrough innovations and future technologies.
Say OUI to France
The “Say OUI to France – Say OUI to innovation” promotional campaign, launched by the IFA and the French Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) in 2012, embodies France’s drive to reaffirm its position as a leading player in the global economy. The campaign will be continuing in 2013, and will relay further details of the reforms outlined by the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance to facilitate foreign investment in France.
