French Economic Growth to Slow This Quarter, Central Bank Says
French Economic Growth to Slow This Quarter, Central Bank Says
(Bloomberg) --
French economic growth will cool slightly at the end of the year amid pressure on industry from the global slowdown, the Bank of France said Tuesday.
The softer pace of expansion indicates the euro area’s second-largest economy isn’t immune to the downturn in trade and manufacturing that’s hurting countries across the currency bloc. Until now, France had shown more resilience as domestic demand helped keep the economy afloat.
According to the central bank’s activity indicator, France’s gross domestic product will expand 0.2% this quarter after 0.3% in the third. For the full year, it’s maintaining its projection of 1.3%.
Still, France’s situation is positive compared with Germany, where data on Thursday may show the economy fell into recession in the third quarter.
The Bank of France survey also showed that industry executives expect a slowdown in production this month. Services are expected to maintain the same pace of growth as in October.
--With assistance from Barbara Sladkowska.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Horobin in Paris at whorobin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Catherine Bosley
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