The Bank of France said on Thursday that it still expects that the country’s economic growth would speed up in the third quarter to 0.3% after it stalled in the second.
The central bank’s monthly survey of business activity in August suggested gross domestic product will expand 0.3% in the three months to the end of September compared with the previous quarter, having remained unchanged in the second quarter.
This is the second estimate for the quarter made by the Bank of France. The previous estimate released a month ago was also 0.3%.
Weaker-than-expected growth in the second quarter contradicted comments made by French President Francois Hollande last month who said the economy was improving after being sluggish for four years. The government expects 1.5% GDP growth this year.
The monthly sentiment indicator for industry was 98 in August, unchanged from the previous month. For services the figure was also stable, at 96. In construction, business sentiment rose to 98 in August from 97, the Bank of France said.
Source: MarketWatch
