New record for foreign investment projects in France in 2022

The number of these projects in which the share of foreign capital is the majority rose to 1.725, or 7% more compared to 2021, which was already a historic high, reported the agency responsible for promoting the France site. to foreign investors.

These investment decisions have enabled the creation or maintenance of 58.810 jobs, a figure up 31% over one year if we take into account temporary permanent contracts, mainly created by the companies Manpower and Randstad.

“Excluding temporary CDIs, the jobs induced increased by 7% in 2022”, specifies in its press release Business France, which does not list the amounts invested not always communicated by the companies.

"It's very positive, because there was an unknown factor in the year 2022 with all the upheavals that the world economy has experienced," Business France director Laurent Saint-Martin told AFP. According to him, "these good results reward the overall consistency of the country's attractiveness".

If previous years had shown that tax and labor market reforms had made it possible to attract more investors, "we did not yet know how France was perceived in the midst of the storms", observed the director of Business France in an allusion to the health crisis and the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.

In a tweet, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron also welcomed this "record year", welcoming that "France attracts more than ever and creates jobs". "The policy implemented for 6 years is bearing fruit!".

Lower inflation

Welcoming also "excellent figures", the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire praised him in a press release "the constancy of our American, German and British allies and friends in their investment choices, thus reflecting their confidence in France's capacity for innovation and creation."

The United States indeed took over the top of the ranking last year, with 280 projects, ahead of Germany (256). And American investors are by far in the lead in the number of jobs maintained or created, with 29% of the total against only 12% for German projects.

Establishment creations account for half of investment projects but only for 29% of jobs created, while extensions of existing sites represent 46% of projects but two-thirds of jobs, the rest being made up of takeovers of companies by foreign investors.

More than four out of five industrial projects (81%) are extensions, "proof of confidence in our economy" and in the "efficiency of the French industrial tool" but also of "satisfaction" with regard to the French workforce, according to the agency.

A large quarter (26%) of investments are made in production activities, which account for 30% of jobs, while head offices for France or Europe, which also represent almost a quarter of projects, total only 11% of jobs. jobs, she explains.

If car manufacturing stalls after an "exceptional year 2021", aeronautics, very affected by the health crisis, takes off again with 52 projects and a number of associated jobs which more than doubled in 2022.

The desire to highlight industry is clearly displayed, but the service sector still accounts for nearly half (49%) of projects and 56% of jobs.

Business France recalls that France is "the leading OECD country in terms of public funding and tax incentives for business R&D".

Another element that contributed to attractiveness in 2022, "France is recognized as a country that has better managed its inflation" which was significantly lower than the European average, argues Laurent Saint-Martin.

Other data on foreign investment will be published ahead of the Choose France Summit on May 15, during which President Emmanuel Macron will bring together bosses of major foreign groups, Business France further indicates.