France - Foreign investment

All direct investments in France require advance notification of— and in some cases approval by—the Treasury Department. Investments from other EU countries cannot be refused, but the department may specify whether the investment is to be financed from French or foreign sources. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in France climbed from $6.5 billion in 1973 to over $150 billion in 1997. The annual inflow of FDI rose to almost $31 billion in 1998, up from $23 billion in 1997. From 1999 to 2002, annual FDI inflows averaged $47.7 billion. In 2002, FDI inflow was an estimated $48.2 billion. The major investors were the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom