Britain scored roughly 10 times the amount of economic investment from overseas sources than France in the last year, as the socialist nation led by French President Francois Hollande saw its business dealings on the international arena drop 77 percent.
The United Nations reported that France secured $5.8 billion of foreign investment in 2013 — the lowest level in 27 years. By contrast, Britain saw about $53 billion in overseas investments for that same year.
In 2013, Germany and Spain also saw increased investments from overseas sources — the former, by 392 percent, The Daily Mail reported. France’s significant decline is a dramatic hit for the socialist president, who vowed his government policies would ramp up revenues for the ailing nation.
At the same time, France is suffering from hefty unemployment rates and rising poverty statistics. The recently released unemployment figure of 11.1 percent is a face-slap to Mr. Hollande, who vowed to bring down the unemployment rate by the end of 2013. Instead, joblessness rose by 10,200 in December alone, The Daily Mail said.
France is the second-largest economy in the eurozone.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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