France's Hollande announces new measures to encourage investment

French President Francois Hollande on Friday announced a package of measures to encourage firms to pump more money into the domestic market with the aim of accelerating growth and creating more jobs.
"I will take measures which will allow us to report higher growth, more jobs. To reach that, there is one condition: more investments," Hollande said.
The head of state also announced the creation of a 500-million-euro (about 544 million U.S. dollars) investment fund by French and foreign insurance groups to provide capital funding for businesses planning to invest in the next months.
In a visit to companies in the northern French region of l'Oise, Hollande proposed an "appropriate tax system" to spur small and medium-sized companies to invest in the short term. In addition, he devoted 8 billion euros to helping finance the development of local firms and boosting their competitiveness via the Public Investment Bank.
"France has a future in industry. This future requires investments, and that is why we must encourage the actions of investing," he added.