The French Economy

According to The World Factbook France gets about 75 million foreign tourists per year making it the most visited country in the world.  In 2011 France's GDP was worth 2772.03 billion in U.S. dollars according to the World Bank that is about 4.47% of the world economy.  Currently the country's interest rate is the same as that of the euro zone 0.75% , the country's inflation rate was reported at 2.1% in August.  Although closing lower at 1.2856 the euro has appreciated in value from July 2012 when it was trading at about 1.20.

Bordering between Spain and Italy, France appears to be going through some tough economic times  of its own.  The unemployment rate has increased from 7.4% in 2008 to 10.2% in the second quarter of 2012.  France's lower than expected growth and high unemployment have increased borrowing costs and have cut government revenues.  As a result the government budget deficit has risen steadily from 2008.  During the last month French stocks have declined 58 points the CAC 40 closed at 3354.82, the top performer for the day was Publicis Groupe SA.

With a mild recession in France the country will cut the budget deficit ceiling by 3% by 2013.  France's new president Francois Hollande is proposing to fix the country's economic problems while evading painful cuts, many believe the goal will not be met given the fact the country has very little growth if any.  The government is looking to raise 30 billion euros through spending cuts and new taxes to meet the goal of lowering the budget deficit by 1.5%.