While rising inflation and falling purchasing power continue to make headlines, the Banque de France is delivering information on Wednesday that is rather contrary to general intuition.
France is not getting poorer, far from it...
Impervious to the vagaries of the economic situation, whether health or economic, the national heritage continues to grow year after year.
Thus, according to the latest figures from the Banque de France, it reached 18.906 billion euros in 2021, to be compared with a gross domestic product (GDP) - which represents the additional wealth garnered in one year - of 2501 billion euros .
Last year, the country's wealth grew by 8.1% in one year.
And knowing that a year earlier, it had already surprisingly jumped 6.6% in 2020 despite health restrictions and their devastating consequences on the economy...
Nearly 10,000 billion euros of real estate for individuals
Where do such numbers come from?
Because households, whose assets represent 77% of the country's wealth, are sitting on solid assets.
Their wealth, driven by the rise in the price of built land and that of financial assets, reached 14,600 billion euros, of which nearly 10,000 billion in real estate alone.
Companies (non-financial) are also benefiting from the good performance of buildings: their portfolio peaks at 3,295 billion euros, up +5.5% over one year, after +7.5% in 2020. The excellent year (+26.2% for the SBF 120 for example in 2021) consolidated the trend.
Compared to individuals and businesses, the state, which is so omnipotent in the lives of the French, displays a low profile, with public administration assets established at 375 billion euros, or 2% of total national wealth.
In 2021, it increased by 186 billion euros, after a deterioration of 122 billion euros in 2020, the year in which the bill for the health crisis was almost entirely paid by the public sphere.
These good figures of national economic wealth are regularly used and misused by supporters of the status quo in France on the grounds that France is rich enough and therefore does not need the shock reforms, such as pensions, that President Macron wants to boost .
The reality is unfortunately more complex because this heritage, real and growing, is in no way liquid and it is not enough to bend down to reap the fruits or the dividends...
