The economic growth of France remains to be influential in the entire European economy as it is currently the second largest country in Europe in terms of economic development and fifth in the world. The country being a member of European Union, it has also been affected tremendously by the most recent Eurozone recession. However, the country remains the world’s greatest economy in terms of the Gross Domestic Productivity (GDP), with Paris maintaining the highest economic income obtained from tourism activities whereby the city receives the highest number of tourists from all over the world. The country also provides remarkable business opportunities from both local and foreign investors as it can be seen in the current foreign companies such as China who have already invested in the country. This article therefore addresses the economic status of France and London, two of the leading economies in Europe.
The country’s economy is generated from various economic activities from trade, manufacturing and tourism activities. The manufacturing industry in France involves automobile, electronics and automobile industries among other major industries. The manufacturing sector dealing in research and development alone contributes to approximately 2.26 percent of the country’s GDP. Major economic activities in France include tourism sector which provides over 4.5 percent employment opportunities and around 6.5 percent contribution to the total GDP of the country (Delassus,, 20).
The business value in France remains at a remarkably stable even with the euro zone issue. The country has leading investment relations with countries such as Hong Kong and China. For instance in 2011, the total imports from Hong Kong were marked to grow at a rate of 16 percent which is equivalent to 4.2 billion U.S dollars. The investment opportunities in France are remarkable with chemical, cosmetics, tourism and hotels and pharmaceutical companies providing a greater investment chance particularly in the capital city Paris. The country boasts with some of the world known companies such as Total, France Telecom, Peugeot automobile, and best known champagne wine.
Although France ranks among the highest in the sector of economic development in the world, the country has experienced several economic and business downfalls in the recent years in terms of unemployment, inflation and closure of major companies such as Peugeot PSA plant which was among the major employment providers in the country. This drop was as a result of the increased debts that the country owes to foreign investors, a situation which accumulated as a result of euro zone recession (Delassus, 21). This tremendous drop in GDP has put pressure to the current president into coming up with measures that will aid in improving the economy within the shortest time possible. The country has an inflation rate of 1 percent while unemployment rate stands at 9.4 percent in the fiscal year 2012. Among the measures that the president has put in place is increasing the income tax rate of 75 percent to the rich people in the country, regulated the budget to deficit value of 3 percent of the country’s GDP and lowered pension rate for some workers among other measures that are likely to affect the French people in different perspectives.
London Economy
The economic stand of London is also on the leading page in the world economy as the city stands at position six in the world’s largest economic development with a Gross Domestic Productivity, GDP of 2.3 trillion dollars in 2011 (The Economist, 20). The economic contribution of London majorly comes from finance institutions with an opportunity of hosting the headquarters of two largest banks in the world (HSBC and Barclays banks), tourism and hospitality sectors and media companies such as British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC and Reuters. London has also benefited tremendously from tourism whereby it received over 15 million international visitors in 2006 and this has been recorded to increase at 1.6 percent annually (The economist, 18).
The city also has strategic potential for business expansion including the fact that it has acted as a business bridge between the Asian countries and the United States due to its central location. One of the leading contributions of easy access to various import and export materials is the Port of London which was once the world second largest port (Kasper, 23). The manufacturing industry is the third contributor of London’s economy whereby largest food manufacturing industries such as coffee producers Nestle and Hayes, Baking companies such as Warburton and Cheswick brews, all of which dominates the world market. The city however has recorded a 2.8 percent of the total employees in manufacturing sector in the United Kingdom, a percentage which is remarkably low.
The business potential remains constantly high both in France and London as they are the leading economies not only in the European region at position two and three respectively but also in the world. The potential economic development in these places however, has been compromised as a result of the global economic recession which has affected the operation of various companies in the regions which are the main contributors of the respective countries’ economy although their economic powers still remains at the top ranks in the global business and economic development.
Works Cited
Delassus, Martine. Et al. Paris Region Key Figure. February 2011.
The Economist. World in 2013: What business thinks, retrieved from www.economist.com/worldin2013, February, 2013.
Kasper, V Emerald: Estimating gross domestic product with surplus value. retrieved from www.theemeraldinsight.com. 2002.
