France will tax financial transactions at a rate well below the UK’s stamp duty to reduce the risk of businesses fleeing abroad, according to the country’s finance minister.

Fran?ois Baroin, French finance minister, said the tax – which has the support of eight other eurozone countries, including Germany – will be levied at 0.1 per cent, raising €1bn a year on share trades. By contrast, British stamp duty on shares stands at 0.5 per cent and raised ￡2.7bn in the 2010-11 tax year.

In an interview with the Financial Times yesterday, hours before parliament was due to begin a debate on the tax announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy last month, Mr Baroin said he hoped the initiative would put pressure on the European Commission to accelerate the implementation of a controversial Europe-wide levy, which is opposed by the UK.