The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, is formal.
If the government is going to have to revise its growth forecast, it will remain positive for 2022. “
I will revise the figure because it was 4% and, obviously, with the war in Ukraine, inflation, all this challenge prospects.
But we will have positive growth in 2022
”, he said on Sunday during the “Grand Rendez-vous Europe 1-CNews-Les Échos”.
Growth has already contracted by 0.2% in the second quarter according to INSEE.
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The Banque de France expects “moderate” growth of the French economy of 0.2% in the second quarter
The new forecasts will be unveiled in the amending finance law which will be presented after the legislative elections, in order to guarantee the “
serenity of public debate
”.
Bruno Le Maire wanted to be reassuring: “
The French economy is solid
”, he asserted several times, insisting on the fact that the country had emerged first from the Covid crisis, and was the one which resisted the better to inflation.
As he said to
Le Figaro
, the Minister of the Economy anticipates an exit from the inflation peak at the end of 2023, then a stabilization around 2% (inflation reached 5.2% in May according to INSEE) .
Until then, his priority remains “
to continue to protect our compatriots
”, who are suffering from rising prices.
Finally, Bruno Le Maire confirmed that France is in "
discussions
" with the United Arab Emirates to find alternatives to Russian oil hit by a European embargo.
The objective is to participate less in the financing of the Russian war in Ukraine through massive purchases of energy from the regime of Vladimir Putin.
Paris is also looking for "
substitutes for the supply of gas or diesel from Russia
".