France Country Report: GDP data and GDP forecasts; economic, financial and trade information; the best banks in France; country and population overview
 DATA ON GDP AND ECONOMIC INFORMATION
| Central bank |
 |
Bank of France
France is part of the Eurosystem and the European Central Bank
|
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold |
|
$159.760 billion (Source: IMF; Data updated: December 2009) |
| Gross Domestic Product - GDP |
|
2,853,062 millions of US dollars (2008) |
| GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) |
|
2,112,426 millions of International dollars (2008) |
| Real GDP growth |
|
| 2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| 1.8% |
1.1% |
1.1% |
2.3% |
1.9% |
2.4% |
2.3% |
0.3% |
2009: -2.2% (estimate)
2010: 1.5% (forecast)
|
| GDP per capita - current prices |
|
$42,414 (2010 estimate) |
| GDP per capita - PPP |
|
$34,250 International Dollars (2010 estimate) |
| GDP (PPP) - share of world total |
|
2.97% (2010 estimate) |
| GDP - composition by sector |
|
- agriculture: 2.2%
- industry: 20.3%
- services: 77.4% (2008 estimate)
|
| Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (% of GDP) |
|
2.12% (2006) |
| Inflation |
|
3.2% (2008)
0.1% (2009)
1.2(2008)% (2010 forecast)
|
| Unemployment rate |
|
7.9% (2008)
9.4% (2009)
10% (2010 forecast)(2009) |
| Household saving rates |
|
12.3% (2007) |
| Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP) |
|
2007: 70.11%
2010: 82.6% (forecast)
|
| Government bond ratings |
|
Standard & Poor's: AAA/Stable/A-1+
Moody's rating: Aaa
Moody's outlook: STA
(Foreign Currency Government Bond Ratings; Data last updated Nov 2009)
|
| Market value of publicly traded shares |
|
US$2.771 trillion (31 December 2007) |
| Largest companies in France |
|
BNP Paribas (Banking), Total (Oil & Gas Operations), GDF Suez (Utilities), EDF Group (Utilities), AXA Group (Insurance), France Telecom (Telecommunications Services), Sanofi-aventis (Drugs & Biotechnology), Crédit Agricole (Banking), Société Générale Group (Banking)
(2010) |
DATA ON TRADE AND COMPETITIVENESS
| Current account balance |
|
US$ -51.42 billion (2010 forecast)(After 2008)
- |
| Current account balance by percentage of GDP |
|
-1.9% of GDP (2010 forecast)(After 2008) |
| Shares in world total merchandising export |
|
3.97% (2007)(2007) |
| Shares in world total commercial services export |
|
4.15% (2007)(2007) |
| Total exports |
|
US$761 billion f.o.b. (2008 estimate) |
| Export commodities |
|
machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages |
| Total imports |
|
US$833 billion f.o.b. (2008 estimate) |
| Import commodities |
|
machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, aircraft, plastics, chemicals |
| Exports - major partners |
|
Germany 14.9%, Spain 9.3%, Italy 8.9%, UK 8.1%, Belgium 7.3%, US 6.1%, Netherlands 4.1% (2007) |
| Imports - major partners |
|
Germany 18.9%, Belgium 11.4%, Italy 8.4%, Spain 7.1%, Netherlands 7%, UK 5.6%, US 4.4%, China 4% (2007) |
| FDI inflows |
|
| 2007 |
2008 |
|
| US$157,973 million(2009) |
US$117,510 million(2009) |
|
|
| FDI outflows |
|
| 2007 |
2008 |
|
| US$224,652 million(2009) |
US$220,046 million(2009) |
|
|
| Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser |
|
| 2007 |
2008 |
2009 (Jan-Jun) |
| US$78,108 million |
US$56,617 million(2009) |
US$30,692 million(2009) |
|
| Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2007
(Acquiring company, Acquired company, Country of the acquired company, Value of the deal)
|
|
Groupe Danone SA, Koninklijke Numico NV, Netherlands, $15.0 billion
Unibail Holding SA, Rodamco Europe NV, Netherlands, $14.2 billion
Metrovacesa SA, Metrovacesa SA, Spain, $6.8 billion
Schneider Electric SA, American Power Conversion Corp, United States, $6.1 billion
Investor Group, Cassa di Risparmio di Parma & Piacenza SpA, %4.8 billion
Cie Generale de Geophysique SA Veritas DGC Inc, United States, $3.3 billion
PAI Partners SA, Lafarge Roofing GmbH, Germany, $3.2 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A click here )
|
| Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2008
(Acquiring company, Acquired company, Country of the acquired company, Value of the deal)
|
|
Lafarge SA, OCI Cement Group, Egypt, $15.0 billion
Pernod Ricard SA, Vin & Sprit AB, Sweden, $8.9 billion
Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel, Citibank Privatkunden AG & Co KGaA, Germany, $6.6 billion
Investor Group, Steen & Strom ASA, Norway, $4.3 billion
Cie de Saint-Gobain SA, Maxit Holding GmbH, Germany, $3.3 billion
Banque Federale des Banques Populaires SA, Banque de Savoie, France, $3.2 billion
Xella International GmbH SPV, Xella International GmbH, Germany, $3.2 billion
(2008 estimate)
(for a monthly update on M&A click here )
|
|
Best countries for doing business
(ranking by country on a basis of 181, the first is the best)
|
|
Overall ranking: 31(2009) (2009)
Subcategories:
Starting a business: 22(2009)
Employing workers: 155
Registering property: 159
Getting credit: 43
Protecting investors: 73
Trading across border: 25
(2009)
|
Global competitiveness ranking
(ranking by country on a basis of 133, the first is the best) |
|
16 (2009/2010) |
| Economic freedom index |
|
63.3 (2009)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed )
|
COUNTRY AND POPULATION OVERVIEW
| Time zone |
|
UTC+1 |
| Total area |
|
551,500 km2 (2006) |
| Capital |
|
Paris (2009) |
| Currency |
|
euros (EUR) (2009) |
| Government type |
|
republic (2009) |
| Languages |
|
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)overseas departments: French, Creole patois |
| Religions |
|
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%, overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan |
| Total population |
|
62.32 million (2009 forecast) |
| Urban population as % of total population |
|
77% (2006) |
| Population median age |
|
39.0 years (2006) |
| Population growth rate |
|
0.60% (2006) |
| Life expectancy |
|
81 years (2007) |
| Adult literacy |
|
- |
| % of population living on less than $2 a day |
|
- |
| Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index) |
|
32.7 (1995)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
|
| Freedom House rating |
|
Political Rights: 1
Civil Liberties: 1 (2009)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free)
|
| Total telephone subscribers as % of population |
|
146.25% (2007)
(sum of fixed telephone lines and mobile cellular subscribers)
|
| Internet users as % of total population |
|
68.21% (data refer to 2008 and were released in 2009) |
| Cost of living - Mercer index
(ranking by city on a basis of 143; the 1st is the most expensive and the 143rd is the least expensive; New York is the base city)
|
|
New York - Index: 100 (Base)
Paris: 13nd - Index: 95.1
Lyon: 62th - Index: 76.6 (2009)
|
| CO2 emissions |
|
6.1608 (2004)
(metric tons of CO2 per capita)
|
 GLOBAL FINANCE RANKINGS AND AWARDS
WORLD'S BEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE BANKS
2010:
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2010)
2009:
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2009)
2008:
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
WORLD'S BEST TRADE FINANCE PROVIDERS
2010:
- REGIONAL WINNERS BNP Paribas (Europe, 2010)
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2010)
2009:
- REGIONAL WINNERS BNP Paribas (Europe, 2009)
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2009)
2008:
- REGIONAL WINNERS BNP Paribas (Europe, 2008)
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
WORLD'S BEST DEVELOPED MARKET BANKS
2010:
- BNP Paribas (National, 2010)
2009:
- BNP Paribas (Europe, 2009)
2008:
- BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
WORLD'S MID YEAR SAFEST BANKS RANKINGS
(ranking of the 50 safest banks in the world; the first is the safest)
2009:
- Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) (44, 2009)
- BNP Paribas (9, 2009)
- Caisse des Dépots et Consignations (CDC) (2, 2009)
- Crédit Agricole S.A. (19, 2009)
- Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC) (45, 2009)
- Société Générale(SG) (41, 2009)
WORLD'S BEST GLOBAL BANKS
2009:
- Trade Finance BNP Paribas (Global, 2009)
2008:
- Trade Finance BNP Paribas (Global, 2008)
WORLD'S BEST DERIVATIVES PROVIDERS
2009:
- Best Equity Derivatives Provider Société Générale (Europe, 2009)
2008:
- Best Equity Derivatives Provider Société Générale (Europe, 2008)
WORLD'S BEST INTERNET BANKS
2009:
- COUNTRY WINNERS / Best Consumer Internet Banks HSBC (2009)
- COUNTRY WINNERS / Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks Citi (2009)
2008:
- COUNTRY WINNERS / Best Consumer Internet Banks HSBC (2008)
- COUNTRY WINNERS / Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks HSBC (2008)
WORLD'S BEST ISLAMIC FINANCE INSTITUTIONS
2008:
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
WORLD'S SAFEST BANKS
2008:
- OVERALL SAFEST Groupe Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) (National, 2008)
- OVERALL SAFEST BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
WORLD'S BEST SUB CUSTODIANS
2010:
- REGIONAL WINNERS BNP Paribas (Western Europe, 2010)
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2010)
2009:
- REGIONAL WINNERS BNP Paribas (Western Europe, 2009)
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2009)
2008:
- REGIONAL WINNERS BNP Paribas (Western Europe, 2008)
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
WORLD'S BEST INVESTMENT BANKS
2010:
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2010)
2008:
- COUNTRY WINNERS BNP Paribas (National, 2008)
ARTICLES AND COUNTRIES REPORTS FROM GLOBAL FINANCE ARCHIVE
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