France’s surplus on international trade in services bolsters the current account balance, thanks to travel, financial services and technical services. France remains among the top four EU countries for its balance of trade in services but this deteriorated between 2012 and 2016. Travel services account for three quarters of the surplus, contributing more than €10 billion despite a 40% drop over three years. On the other hand, the deficit on transport is growing.

If we match the data from the survey on services with corporate data, at legal unit level, we see that integration in the international value chain increases performance: companies that belong to multinationals or import and export services are often those that show a surplus on trade in services. The surplus is primarily generated by subsidiaries of French multinationals, but the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals are gradually gaining ground.