French central bank maintains 0.2-pct growth forecast for Q4

Source: Xinhua | 2019-12-10

French central bank, Banque de France (BdF) on Monday announced a 0.2-percent quarter-on-quarter GDP growth forecast in the final quarter of 2019, confirming a previous estimation on expected momentum in services businesses.

In November, industrial production stabilized as a decrease in automobile sector had offset a robust growth in agri-food and aeronautical activities, the bank noted.

Based on monthly surveys of entrepreneurs' opinion, the BdF projected weak industrial production in December.

Last month, service activities expanded at the same pace as in October, with further improvement in the sector is expected in short term.

Over the period, the business sentiment indicator in industry lost one point to 97 while that of services stood at 99, up by one point from October, the bank's figures showed.

For the whole year of 2019, the French government expected the growth rate in the eurozone's second largest power at 1.4 percent, down from an initial target of 1.7 percent.