PARIS (Reuters) – France’s economy likely grew by 0.25% in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, the country’s central bank said in its monthly economic outlook on Monday, slightly downgrading a previous 0.3% forecast mainly due to poor industrial activity.
“In an economic environment marked by the energy crisis and difficulties in supply and recruitment, activity continues to be resilient overall, but industry is more affected than other sectors”, said the Bank of France.
Business activity in the country’s struggling industrial sector was flat in September, while the services sector grew further, the bank said in its outlook based on a survey of business leaders.
As it had done last month, the central bank said executives had reported higher uncertainty, mainly driven by worries over energy prices and power availability.
First indicators are pointing towards a slight overall uptrend in October, the central bank added, though the dominant services sector – the country’s main economic driver – will likely expand more slowly than in previous months.
The country’s INSEE statistics body in a separate survey last week said it expected 0.2% GDP growth for the third quarter and stagnation for the October-December period.
France, the euro zone’s second-biggest economy, achieved a 0.5% growth rate in the second quarter.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by David Holmes)
