France reports lower-than-expected growth in 2018

Source: Xinhua | 2019-03-27

France reported its economic growth for 2018 at 1.6 percent, according figures released Tuesday by France's national statistics institute Insee.
The figure was below the government's forecast of 1.7 percent. Last year's slowing performance stemmed mainly from less dynamic household expenditure whose rate slowed to 0.8 percent in 2018 compared to 1.1 percent recorded a year ago.
According to Insee, France hit a 13-year low budget deficit in 2018. France recorded a deficit of 59.6 billion euros (67.41 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, or 2.5 percent of GDP, the lowest level since 2006.
The country's narrowed gap was the result of a decelerated public expenditure which was at 1.9 percent last year compared to 2.3 percent a year earlier.
As a share of GDP, spending decreased by 0.4 percent to 56 percent.
"Growth is solid ... The government's economic policy is paying off with better labor compensation and a favorite business investment policy," said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
"By stabilizing the public debt and reducing our deficit more than expected to 2.5 percent in 2018, we have stopped the steady drift of our public finances for more than 10 years. We will continue to recover our accounts while continuing to lower taxes," he said in a Twitter message.