Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry

In charge of the public purse and the development and implementation of France’s economic policy, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry is also a major player in the international cooperation arena - notably through the French Development Agency, for which it has oversight together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Administering the public purse

The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry (MINEFI) has three main functions:

• It prepares and administers the state budget.
• It develops and implements France’s economic policy.
• It participates in business development and the regulation of the economy.

The first of these tasks consists in preparing and implementing the state budget – an area that has recently undergone major reform with the introduction of the constitutional bylaw, LOLF (loi d’orientation relative aux lois de finances).

In managing the public purse, MINEFI has several roles:

• It prepares (under the purview of the Prime Minister) the state budget and drafts the Budget Bill, voted each year by Parliament before 31 December.
• It collects national and local taxes - the latter on behalf of local government.
• It carries out inspections to combat tax fraud.

It also provides accounting, budgeting and cadastral management assistance to local government, in addition to collecting taxes on their behalf.

Developing and coordinating economic policy

MINEFI is involved in the preparation of all major government expenditure programmes and is responsible for government cash and debt operations, including loan issues. It regulates financial and economic activity and participates in the effort to combat fraud and other illegal practices. It is also responsible for the deployment of statistical and econometric tools like the population censuses and other surveys conducted by France’s official statistics agency, Insee.
In the global arena, it represents France in the international financial institutions and discussions on global financial issues, and contributes to efforts to avert or resolve financial crises where they arise.

Regulating the economy

MINEFI facilitates the creation, expansion and transfer of companies either by direct financial assistance or fiscal mechanisms. It assists companies in difficulty and represents the state on the boards of France’s public-sector companies. It is also in charge of France’s energy policy and the procurement of raw materials.
Other responsibilities in this area include formulating rules governing competition and consumer protection and monitoring their enforcement. It also oversees industrial safety and the control of technological risks, in coordination with the Ministry of the Environment.

A major role in the area of cooperation

All cooperation activities have a financial dimension, including those pertaining to health and social welfare.
One of the first responsibilities of the ministry in this field is the provision of grants, loans and debt relief for developing countries. Loans are made either directly by the Ministry or via the French Development Agency (AFD), which MINEFI oversees jointly with the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
In 2006, the Ministry extended more than a billion euros in credits for cooperation with developing countries.
With more than 41 offices worldwide and operations in over 60 countries, the mission of the AFD is to finance development. Supported by a broad range of financial instruments, it assists public authorities, the private sector and local associations in implementing economic and social projects which are many and various. In 2005, its financial commitments to foreign countries totalled €2.5 billion.
AFD’s actions to promote economic growth and the protection of the environment fall directly within the scope of the UN Millennium Development Goals which seek to reduce global poverty by half by the year 2015.