French government puts meat on bones of investment plan

Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, has announced a series of fiscal measures, worth about €2.5 billion over five years, aimed at encouraging investment.

The measures were announced at a press conference on 8 April and include a plan to give companies a return of 140 per cent on industrial investments. French regional authorities, who account for 70 per cent of public investment, will also be offered interest-free loans from the Deposits and Consignments Fund, the CDC.

Valls’s announcement came a week after president François Hollande’s pledge to increase growth in France, which has remained low since the financial crisis.