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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.
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 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.