French economy grew 0.5% in Q3, previous quarter revised up

[PARIS] The French economy grew 0.5 per cent in the third quarter from the previous three months as consumer spending picked up and investment remained robust, the INSEE national statistics agency said on Tuesday in a first estimate.

The result, which was spot in line with a Reuters poll of 27 analysts, meant gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 2.2 per cent over a year, the fastest pace of growth since 2011.

Upward revisions in the second quarter of this year and the fourth quarter of last year - both by 0.1 percentage point to 0.5 per cent - gave a growth carry-over of 1.7 per cent, the performance for 2017 if growth was zero in the final quarter.

Following the economy's performance over the first nine months, President Emmanuel Macron's government should have little trouble surpassing the 1.7 per cent growth forecast it built its budget plans on.

REUTERS