Over the course of 2020, The Banker’s Global Finance Minister of the Year Award winner — France’s Bruno Le Maire — has shown imagination and ambition to shepherd the world’s seventh largest economy through an unprecedented economic crisis. Though France, in common with Europe’s other major economies, has been hit hard by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s near-term prospects have been ameliorated by the actions taken by Mr Le Maire’s Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Indeed, the fiscal envelope devoted to tackling the crisis to date is equivalent to 6% of gross domestic product, or €135bn, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is in conjunction with a suite of public guarantees to the tune of €327bn, the majority of which have been channelled to bank loans and credit reinsurance mechanisms.
