According to Insee, the growth of the French economy increased by 0.3% in the third quarter after stagnating in the spring. The cumulative growth for the entire year now reaches 1.1%, whereas the government officially forecasts 1% for this year.
This figure is better than what Insee anticipated in its latest economic report, published in October. At that time, public statisticians expected an increase of only 0.2%.
With this figure, France has technically emerged from the period of very weak growth it had been experiencing since the end of 2011.
This statement is based on the fact that Insee also confirmed the figures for the two previous quarters, resulting in growth calculated over the last twelve months reaching 1.2%, the highest annual rate since late 2011 for the French economy.
The bulk of this rebound in activity is primarily explained by the rise in household consumption (+0.3% after a stagnant second quarter) and the acceleration of business investment (which shows an increase of 0.7% after 0.5% in the previous quarter).
