Word: france
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...first single-digit rate since 1978. Mauroy can also justly claim that he has "stabilized" unemployment at about 2.1 million, or 8.9% of the work force, vs. 1.66 million, or 7.2%, under former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. But the cost has been considerable. The French franc has lost 32% of its value against the dollar since the Socialists were elected in May 1981. The foreign trade deficit has increased about 50%, to $12.7 billion, and the accumulated foreign debt rose to an estimated $37 billion at the end of 1982, compared with $25 billion...
...pace with foreign currency changes, good values abound. In Paris, a four-course dinner at the three-star Tour d'Argent goes for about $54, expensive by most standards but still $17 cheaper than two years ago, thanks to a 74.8% appreciation in the dollar against the French franc. At ubiquitous Parisian cafes, steak and pommes frites cost only $4, and a glass of wine can be as little as an additional 60?. Said Elaine Lustig, a Virginian traveling with her husband, last week: "We've been eating outstanding meals for one-half or one-third of what...
...seizure of banks by the Mexican government may also be ineffective or counterproductive. After French President François Mitterrand nationalized his country's banks in February, many edgy foreigners pulled bank deposits out of France, and that helped push the franc to record lows. Bruce Bagley, an associate director of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, thinks investors will be even more hesitant to keep money in Mexico's nationalized banks because of the government's reputation for corruption...
Plagued by uncertainty about economic trends at home and abroad, the French business outlook is clouded. Industrial investment continues to decrease, and Chevalier doubts that French industry will get many benefits from last month's devaluation of the franc. He believes that French businessmen, unable to raise prices at home, will be tempted to increase them on exports and thus not enjoy larger foreign sales. As a result, Chevalier expects a trade deficit this year of about $10.4 million...
Meanwhile, he expects unemployment, the No. 1 concern of the Socialists a year ago, to reach 9%, or 2.1 million people, by the end of the year. Chevalier concluded that international pressure on the franc has forced the country to stop giving higher priority to fighting unemployment than to combatting inflation. Said he: "I do not think that any country now can fight unemployment alone, with success, because of the openness of the world economy...