The balance sheet of the Afii on lesechos

In a time of persistent surge of unemployment, the Government could not let escape a such new. It is therefore for the economy Minister, Christine Lagarde, and counterpart to the countryside and the development of the territory, Michel Mercier, which were presented, yesterday, the 2009 "creators of jobs in France foreign investment" of the French for international investments (Afii) Agency. And for cause, it shows that, despite the collapse of world trade, the attractiveness of the hexagon took the shock of the crisis.

Afii has identified 639 decisions of foreign investment in 2009, or about as much as in 2008 (641) and more than before the crisis (624 in 2007). "Our attractivity factors are real and cut across a number of that structural and conjunctural difficulties", welcomed Christine Lagarde. And to focus on "the quality of the workforce" but also on the research tax credit, "a major attractiveness factor in fiscal arsenal" (read below).

In total, these investments will help to maintain or create 29.889 jobs. This figure is declining for the third year in a row, showing a decrease of 6.4 over 2008 and 25 compared to the highest of 2006. But "this amount is close to the annual average since 2000," procrastinating David Appia, Chairman of Afii.

Less ambitious projects

If investments are less jobs, it is because they are less ambitious: more than half of the projects have involved less than 20 jobs. This reflects "the increasing share of projects in the tertiary sector, particularly in research and development, and the Council, projects on average smaller than manufacturing projects", the report. In addition, investors are themselves made by SMEs for more than a third (38). Finally, 62 of the investments involved creation of sites, compared to 56 in 2008, a "sign of confidence in the France" with Christine Lagarde "This is tied to the rise of new sectors, such as renewable energy, but also to the arrival of new players on these growth sectors," continued David Appia. The crisis clearly has led foreign investors to be throwing more business at Bay since the number of sites times remained stable (8 of the total projects).

A real break

If you look at the source of these investments, the year 2009 will be marked a real break. For the first time since the creation of the Afii in 2001, the United States lose their position as first foreign investor in France, for the benefit of the Germany. Over the past three years, the number of US companies from investments fell by 11 on average per year, while those coming from German increased by 3. The Germany was a year last for 18 of the projects, in the United States (17) and the Italy whose share has more than doubled from 2007 to 9 (read below). German investments include the decision of the manufacturer car Daimler produced the Smart electric on its site in Hambach (Moselle) or that of the company in the photovoltaic Juwi to expand its R & D region PACA website. Are they are still far behind, Chinese investors also strengthen their presence, such as Huawei and ZTE in Ile de France Telecom equipment suppliers. Indian investment, they maintain their growth.

For 2010, Afii, which counts not the jobs destroyed by foreign firms hope that emerging countries "will confirm their potential". In the light of the first two months, she is confident even if it does not exclude a likelihood of offset in time from the effects of the crisis.

The balance sheet of the Afii on lesechos.fr/documentslesechos.fr/documents