France unveils $33B stimulus plan

[Joanne98]

Source: CNN


(CNN) -- French Prime Minister Francois Fillon unveiled further details Monday of a 26 billion-euro ($33 billion) business stimulus package which his government hopes can stall falling growth and prevent the country joining other major European economies in recession.

Up to 1,000 projects will benefit from the package, which was first proposed by President Nicolas Sarkozy in December and approved by French lawmakers last week.

Around 20 billion euros of the total amount will be spent over the next 12 months. Businesses will receive 11.4 billion euros while the same amount will be invested in public projects with social housing identified as a priority. The final 4 billion euros will be spent on improving France's transport, energy and postal service infrastructure.

The package is expected to stimulate economic growth of around 1.3 percent, Fillon said. France has so far avoided the worst of the recession that has gripped many of its western European neighbors, including Germany and the UK.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/02/02/france.stimulus.plan/

[dflprincess]

1. I see nothing about tax cuts.

How do the French expect this to work if even the wealthy must continue to pay taxes? :sarcasm:

[valerief]

2. LOL.

[cobalt1999]

3. I bet they have a "Buy French" rule too.

nt

[pampango]

4. Don't think that EU agreements allow France to do that. There's no mention

of a "Buy French" policy in any of the stories I've read about it. They could be like Canada which doesn't have a "Buy Canadian" policy in their stimulus plan.