Explosion of bankruptcies in France: post-Covid rebound effect or lasting crisis?
In France, the number of business failures has broken a new annual record in recent weeks, now exceeding 66,000. A historic increase that is worrying, even as the government plans to implement a drastic savings plan to reduce the State's abysmal debt.

The list is growing and the outlook is getting bleaker for French companies. More than 66,000 companies have gone bankrupt in the last 12 months, according to the latest estimates from specialist firm Altares, published in October.

A historic increase of more than 20% compared to the previous 12 months, which surpasses the peaks of 2012, linked to the debt crisis in the eurozone, and 2009, caused by the subprime crisis.

It particularly concerns VSEs (very small enterprises) and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in fragile sectors such as construction, hotels and restaurants and retail, which have been hit hard by rising operating costs due to inflation.

"Whatever the cost"

This increase in bankruptcies can be explained in part by a post-Covid-19 "catch-up" effect. The State had then released massive aid, the "whatever it takes" policy, to keep businesses afloat during this long period of forced inactivity. A specific system was set up for businesses on October 19, 2020, the State-Guaranteed Loan (PGE), a financing at a favorable rate that could be repaid over a period of 1 to 6 years. A second PGE was also opened for businesses affected by the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Two aid systems that ended in June 2022 and December 2023. At the same time, businesses saw the cost of electricity explode by 38% between 2019 and 2022, according to the Banque de France. A bill softened by the tariff shield on energy prices but which increased in 2024, due to the gradual elimination of this system. Finally, inflation in the cost of materials continues to affect many sectors, particularly construction, which alone accounts for 22% of bankruptcies in 2024, according to the Banque de France.

Misleading measures

In January 2022, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, sang the praises of the PGE. 697,000 loans had then been taken out by companies "ensuring the most effective protection against bankruptcies". Companies in great difficulty could even defer the start of repayment until 2022 and spread it over a period of up to ten years.

https://www.france24.com/fr/france/20241125-explosion-des-faillites-en-france-effet-rebond-post-covid-ou-crise-durable

MEANWHILE:

French President Emmanuel Macron has been publicly criticized over controversial remarks he was recently caught making on camera about Haiti’s leaders.

In a video shot on the sidelines of last week’s G20 meeting in Brazil and shared on social media, Macron was filmed calling Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council “total morons” for dismissing the Caribbean nation’s ex-prime minister Garry Conille. 

“The prime minister was great, I defended him. They are total morons, they should never have fired him,”Macron said in the clip, responding to an individual.

The council’s former president, Edgard Leblanc Fils, said in a statement posted on X late on Sunday that Macron had made “insulting remarks” about an entire nation “living through dark times.”

Leblanc said Macron “did not hesitate to interfere in a matter that essentially concerns the Haitian authorities” by declaring that he supported Conille and that the latter was “formidable.”

https://www.rt.com/news/608237-haiti-france-macron-criticism/

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