The strong growth in activity in the French private sector continued in December, but was mainly driven by services, according to an index published Wednesday by the firm IHS Markit.
Despite a slowdown compared to the previous month, the composite index of aggregate activity stood at 55.8 points in December (revised up by 0.2 point compared to the initial estimate published two weeks ago ), compared to 56.1 in November.
An index above 50 indicates an expansion of activity while an index below 50 indicates a contraction.
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The trend "
hides disparities at the sectoral level, however, overall growth having relied almost exclusively on the dynamism of the service sector
", underlines the cabinet in its note.
The manufacturing sector, for its part, posted “
weak
” performances, with a very slight increase in production in December.
“
Under these conditions, any measure taken by the French government in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant will have a direct impact on growth.
A tightening of health constraints may indeed place the French economy in a precarious situation
, "warns Joe Hayes, economist at IHS Markit, quoted in the press release.