According to the monthly survey of some 8,500 French companies, activity in the country’s key sectors rose more than expected last month. Economic growth in the last quarter of 2022 will therefore be around 0.1 percent.
Slight growth
“Activity in France is holding up better than expected,” French central bank governor François Villeroy de Galhau said in an interview with Radio Classic. “She’s going slower, but we still have some slight growth.” The central banker therefore expects France to avoid a ‘hard landing’ or deep recession, as feared again in September.
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For this month, companies also expect growth in the manufacturing and services sector to continue and stabilize in the construction sector. Furthermore, according to the survey, supply problems have decreased in the manufacturing sector, and in particular in the construction sector.
Goldman Sachs
The report on the eurozone’s second largest economy adds to signs that this year may not be as bad as expected. The large American investment bank Goldman Sachs has already announced on Tuesday that it no longer expects a recession for the Eurozone, also aided by the sharp drop in gas prices.
The World Bank, on the other hand, has gotten much darker about the global economy as a whole. The Institute for Development Cooperation predicts that economic growth in the euro zone will stall this year due to sharply rising prices, higher interest rates, lower investment and disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine. In its previous estimate in June, the World Bank still forecast 1.9% growth for the eurozone in 2023.