onomy France

Economy - overview: France is in the midst of transition, from a
well-to-do modern economy that featured extensive government ownership
and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms. The
Socialist-led government has partially or fully privatized many large
companies, banks, and insurers, but still retains large stakes in
several leading firms, including Air France, France Telecom, Renault,
and Thales, and remains dominant in some sectors, particularly power,
public transport, and defense industries. The telecommunications sector is
gradually being opened to competition. France's leaders remain committed
to a capitalism in which they maintain social equity by means of laws,
tax policies, and social spending that reduce income disparity and
the impact of free markets on public health and welfare. The current
government has lowered income taxes and introduced measures to boost
employment, but has done little to reform an overly expensive pension
system, rigid labor market, and restrictive bureaucracy that discourage
hiring and make the tax burden one of the highest in Europe. In addition
to the tax burden, the reduction of the workweek to 35 hours, which is to
be extended to small firms in 2002, has drawn criticism for lowering the
competitiveness of French businesses. The current economic slowdown has
thrown the government's goal of balancing the budget by 2004 off track.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.51 trillion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2.1% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $25,400 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.3% industry: 25.7% services:
71% (2000)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 25.1% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 32.7 (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.7% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 26.6 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: services 71%, industry 25%, agriculture 4%
(1997)

Unemployment rate: 8.9% (2001 est.)

Budget: revenues: $210 billion expenditures: $240 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries: machinery, chemicals, automobiles, metallurgy, aircraft,
electronics; textiles, food processing; tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 1.3% (2001)

Electricity - production: 513.924 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - productio