California is now the sixth-largest economy in the world, surpassing France, thanks to a robust state economy and strong US dollar.
California was the world’s eighth-largest economy in 2014, California Department of Finance chief economist Irena Asmundson on Friday said in a telephone interview. “California did exceptionally well in 2015.”
France is the world’s seventh-largest economy with a GDP of US$2.42 trillion and India is the eighth-largest with US$2.09 trillion, according to the latest IMF data.
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California is home to diverse strong economies, including Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Manufacturing and agriculture have performed well despite a severe drought, Asmundson said.
Governor Jerry Brown, 78, is running the state during an economic turnaround driven by technology companies, including Facebook Inc and Apple Inc, along with agricultural and manufacturing industries that lead the US.
Since taking office in 2011, Brown steered the state away from fiscal turmoil and persistent deficits to budget surpluses.
The most populous US state has outpaced the rest of the country on job growth, California’s finance department said in its bulletin this week.
Four of the world’s 10 largest companies are based in California, including Alphabet Inc and Facebook.
California’s gross state product was US$2.46 trillion last year, with 4.1 percent of growth in real terms, according to the bulletin.
That was compared with a 2.4 percent increase for the US and 1.1 percent for France, Asmundson said.
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