Tag Archives: French economy

Prospects for French economic growth are looking up, but disruptions to consumption are possible. French GDP rose by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) in Q4, the same pace as in Q3. The details reveal that Q4 exports surged significantly, while household consumption and investment slowed. This left growth for the year at +1.5%, following +2.3% in 2017. The breakdown of GDP data show that household consumption growth...

Prospects for French economic growth are looking up, but disruptions to consumption are possible.French GDP rose by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) in Q4, the same pace as in Q3. The details reveal that Q4 exports surged significantly, while household consumption and investment slowed. This left growth for the year at +1.5%, following +2.3% in 2017.The breakdown of GDP data shows that household consumption growth decelerated significantly, to 0.0% from +0.4%, with the disruption to Christmas...

Recent protests could have a negative impact on French growth, tax revenue and president Macron’s reform plans for his country and for Europe.French protests began on November 17 over hikes in fuel taxes, but have progressively broadened out into an expression of general anger with the French government about the cost of living and high taxes.To calm the situation, the government has dropped the planned fuel tax hike from next year’s budget.Whether or not this will be enough to satisfy the...

Recent protests could have a negative impact on French growth, tax revenue and president Macron’s reform plans for his country and for Europe. French protests began on November 17 over hikes in fuel taxes, but have progressively broadened out into an expression of general anger with the French government about the cost of living and high taxes. To calm the situation, the government has dropped the planned fuel tax hike...

A number of one-off factors hurt growth dynamics, but there are many reasons to think that expansion will pick up in the rest of this year. France is the first country in the euro area to publish Q2 GDP figures. The economy expanded by 0.2% q-o-q in Q2, the same pace as the previous quarter and below consensus expectations of 0.3%. The key source of disappointment was private consumption, which was hit by one-off...

A number of one-off factors hurt growth dynamics, but there are many reasons to think that expansion will pick up in the rest of this year.France is the first country in the euro area to publish Q2 GDP figures. The economy expanded by 0.2% q-o-q in Q2, the same pace as the previous quarter and below consensus expectations of 0.3%.The key source of disappointment was private consumption, which was hit by one-off factors such as unseasonal weather and transport strikes. More positively,...

Macronomics could well accelerate the closing of the growth gap with Germany and improve the outlook for French equities.The first major piece of President Emmanuel Macron’s agenda, the business- friendly labour market reform, was signed into law last month. Some Macron measures may have adverse effects in the short term and some others are not fully financed and difficult to quantify, but overall they should boost purchasing power, investment and productivity. The government has been...