The latest data published by Insee shows that French growth picked up in the third quarter after six stagnant months. The gross domestic product thus increased by 0.4%, after two quarters at 0.2%.
This increase, however, remains slightly below the 0.5% predicted so far, notably by the Bank of France.
The restart of activity is mainly explained by the recovery of domestic demand, which contributed to GDP growth by 0.5 points, according to the statistical institute.
The rebound was also facilitated by business investment, which once again showed strong growth (+0.8% after +0.9% in the second quarter).
It was finally made possible by the improvement in foreign trade: between July and September, exports increased by 0.7% (after +0.1%), while imports slowed down (+0.3% after +0.7%). Foreign trade, the Achilles’ heel of the French economy, thus contributed “positively to growth” by 0.1 points, after having penalized it by 0.2 points in the second quarter, highlights Insee.
For the entire year of 2018, the public body forecasts a growth of 1.6%. This hypothesis is in line with the forecasts of the Bank of France or the OECD, but below that of the government, which is banking on a GDP increase of 1.7% in 2018 and 2019… far from the growth rate achieved last year, namely 2.2% (2.3% in data adjusted for working days).
