INSEE nudges its French Q2 growth forecast higher

The French economy will grow more strongly than expected in the second quarter of this year, matching expected growth across the broader euro zone after three years of underperformance, national statistics agency INSEE said on Thursday. INSEE raised its forecast for second-quarter GDP growth to 0.5 percent, compared with a forecast of 0.4 percent in its last review in December. It kept its forecast of first-quarter GDP growth unchanged at 0.3 percent.
"Overall, GDP is expected to grow solidly in the first half of 2017 ... French activity would in this way recover a comparable rhythm to that of its neighbours, after three years of weaker growth than that of the euro zone," it said in a quarterly report. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said INSEE's forecasts showed that "the recovery seen since 2015 in France is solid and they confirm that the government's hypothesis of 1.5 percent growth in 2017 is serious". The euro zone's second-biggest economy picked up speed in the final three months of last year, growing by 0.4 percent, thanks to more buoyant consumer and investment spending, after a lacklustre performance in the previous two quarters.