France has launched "France Reboot," a $118 billion (€100 billion) recovery plan meant to save the badly hit French economy from renewed economic destruction at the hands of the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic.
The unprecedented investment, which is equivalent to four percent of French GDP, intends to dig Europe's second-largest economy out of its worst economic slump since the end of the Second World War 75 years ago. The huge stimulus means France is committing more money as a percentage of GDP to restore growth than any other major European country.
France Reboot's aims are extremely ambitious: create up to 160,000 jobs in 2021 and restore France's economic growth levels of 2019 by 2022.
"This recovery plan aims to keep our economy from collapsing and unemployment exploding," said Prime Minister Jean Castex in announcing the stimulus on Thursday.
The France Reboot stimulus package sets aside $41 billion (€35 billion) to make the French economy more competitive; $30 billion (€25 billion) for supporting jobs and $36 billion (€30 billion) for more environmentally friendly energy policies.
It's also expected to take some of the sting out of a projected 11 percent plunge in national GDP for 2020 and to mitigate an economic recession that will likely become France's worst post-war recession. The French economy shrank 13.8 percent in the second quarter.
Analysts said President Emmanuel Macron's government is relying on France Reboot to return the economy to pre-crisis levels of growth by 2022. The pandemic destroyed much of the economic gains made by the pro-business Macron during his tenure.
France Rebooot follows Macron's previous stimulus measures, which include business tax cuts worth $11.8 billion (€10 billion) annually and an infusion of public funds to boost France's industrial, construction and transport sectors.
Officials said the transport sector would get $13 billion with $5.6 billion going to the rail network. Energy-efficient building renovations will be funded by a $5.6 billion package for public buildings and $2.4 billion for homes. The hydrogen industry will get $2.4 billion.
France Reboot was launched amid a demoralizing resurgence in COVID-19 throughout the country. On Wednesday, France reported 7,017 new confirmed COVID-19 casesy, up sharply from Tuesday's 4,982. Wednesday was the third time since the beginning of the outbreak inb January that the daily tally has stood above 7,000. The number of hospitalized patients in intensive care is also on the rise.
