External trade is very weak. It has got a negative impact on the economic growth. Germany imports less than before, French companies are less innovative in technology. In order to increase export , exchange rates must depreciate, the euro must be less expensive.
Since 1993, the french economic growth has a medium performance compared with other countries in the OECD. It is between Italy, Germany and Japan and Total OECD, United Kingdom, USA. (Ameline et Émeline).
In the first semester our french economy is stagnating and is rather weak. This is due to the rising rate of unemployment,which is around 8,6% of the active population, and the rise of inflation of some prices. Futhermore, the State is facing a debt amounting to about 1100 billion euros.Then there is a strong lack of competitiveness amongst french companies.Which causes a negative impact on the trade balance : the increase of imports and lowering of exports is putting the exchange balance in deficit. This slows down the french economy. (Gwendoline et Aurélie).
France undergoes an economic crisis : indeed the French public debt is estimated at 66,6% of the GDP announced INSEE Friday september 28, 2007. At 66,6% of the GDP, the level of the national debt is quite higher than what the European stability pact allows : 60% of the GDP. As far as it is concerned, the French government forecasts a national debt of 64.2% of the GDP for the end of the year and of 64% for next year. The national debt includes in particular the debt of the social security and the debt of the local government agencies.
The debt of the social security increased by 5,8billion euros during the second quarter while that of the local governemnt agencies decreased in the same time by 2,6billion euros. France is the seventh world power in GDP term. (Émilie et Pauline).
The french ecnonomy went down since 2000.And it stagnates around 2 perrcent.In one year, there has been a fall down in jobs creation. The french economy in in crisis. The external trade is in a bad situation and Investments are weak. This slows down the french economy.
The economic growth is in crisis. In the beginnning 2007 in France, GDP stagnates around 2%. This is due to low investments and the deficit of the Balance of trade, indeed imports are growing and exports are declining. (Clémence et Camille).
This slowdown in the growth is due to the various contributions to the variations of the GDP : the conjoncturists examine the evolution of each component of the demand in order to understand where the GDP’s variations come from : the essential component is the househould consumption, it evolves correctly but the investments remain constant. Furthermore, the external trade is in deficit : that means the exports (four hundred and eighty billion euros in 2006) are lower than the imports (five hundred and seven billion euros in 2006). They don’t allow to cover them. THe cover’s rate amounts to 0.94 only. If it were positive, the growth would gain points.
The partners of France such as Germany lack dynamism, and the exchange rate is not favorable.
Moreover, France should be less dependent, have a competitive international supply and innovate, her economic players are dependent : in times of prosperity, production growth increases, so do the revenues and so the demand which fuels the growth. On the contrary, in times of depression, the economy can collapse. If we consider the last 10 years, we observe that the french growth is about similar to the UE’s growth rate. Nevertheless, the french economy grew at a lower speed that the UK. (Flavie and Laura).
