Investor boost for Macron

● Foreign investment in France rose 16% last year to levels not seen for a decade as President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to attract money from abroad gains pace, a government report said this week.

Public agency Business France said 1 298 foreign investment projects were announced last year, allowing some 33 500 jobs to be saved or created, “the best in 10 years”, the report said, up from 1 117 last year.

In a positive sign for Macron’s government, which sees boosting France as an investment destination as a priority, 412 new companies decided to invest in France — accounting for a third of the projects.

Half of the announcements were for completely new projects, while 42% will expand existing ones, with takeovers accounting for the rest. Investors from elsewhere in Europe were behind 58% of the projects, but the report said US firms accounted for more of the jobs, retaking the top spot from Germany a year earlier.