French central bank trims quarterly growth estimate to 0.2 pct

Source: Xinhua | 2019-07-09

France's central bank, Banque de France (BdF), on Monday cut the country's estimated growth for the second quarter by one percentage point to 0.2 percent, citing declining industrial activities.
The bank said in its quarterly forecast that industrial production declined significantly in June, in particular "in the automobile, rubber and plastic and IT and electronic equipment sectors."
Meanwhile, the bank expected industry output to recover in July in all sectors based on business leaders' sentiment.
It also noted a moderate rise in the services sector in June and that a growing trend was expected in the short term.
Last month, the business sentiment indicator in industry lost four points to 95, while that of services stood at 100, unchanged from May data.
The BdF has set France's 2019 growth at 1.5 percent, below a government target of 1.7 percent.