A bit like in the song, you could say that the news is gloomy wherever it comes from. For the last quarter of the year, French economic activity is expected to remain frozen at 0%, according to INSEE forecasts published on Thursday. It had previously expected 0.2%. Among the major components, industrial production and household consumption remained fairly stable at the end of the year.
Overall, the good export performance this quarter - notably due to large aircraft and naval deliveries - is making up for the decline in investment. "After remaining very high for a long time, the employment climate is also deteriorating, while households' confidence in the economic situation is only slowly recovering," INSEE adds.
'Sluggish' growth
This "sluggish" growth, according to the expression of the institute, allows France to escape recession in extremis after a third quarter where growth fell by 0.1%. As a reminder, it takes two...
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