According to a quarterly survey from the INSEE statistics agency. the business managers in industry surveyed in January 2019 stated that their investment was stable in nominal terms in 2018, thus raising the estimate given last October by one point. For 2019, the business leaders in industry anticipate to raise sharply their investment spending. Investment should increase by 10% compared with 2018.

With an expected overall increase of 10% in investment for 2019, business managers have revised up by 6 points their October 2018 estimate, that is slightly more than usually observed at this time of the year (+4 points on average between 2004 and 2018).

For 2019, investment is expected to pick up speed sharply in the sector of electrical, electronic and machine equipment and in the “other manufacturing” sector. It should rebound strongly in the agri-food industry and in the transport equipment sector. The business managers estimate could be revised over the next quarters. On average since 2003, the forecast issued in January has been 3 points higher than the value ultimately declared in July of the following year.