The German economy has outperformed the French economy in recent years. Capacity utilization in the German manufacturing sector is above its long-term average. Thus, one could expect higher investment activity in Germany.
Yet in 2016, the investment-to-GDP ratio stood at 22% in France, and only 20% in Germany. The French public and corporate sectors have higher investment ratios than their German counterparts (+1.3 pp and +1.0 pp, respectively).
7-misconceptions-germany-growth-investment-snippet-18dec17.pdf