The French economy shrank by 0.1% – TVN Panama

This decline in the gross domestic product (GDP), a slight correction with respect to the first estimate by the INSEE (he had initially calculated a stagnation between April and June), is the first thing that occurs in a quarter since the beginning of 2014.

The consumption decreased by 0.1%, while investment was cut by 0.2%, which was offset by the rise in the public spending of 0.4%. In the end, domestic demand remained stable.

Another negative factor was the variation of stocks of companies, which cut at 0.7-tenths of the GDP in those three months. On the contrary, the foreign trade contributed 0.6 of tenths because while imports experienced a contraction of 1.8 %, exports rose 0.2%.

INSEE said that if the French economy remained stagnant in the second half, the GDP at the end of the year would increase by 1.1%.

The French economy had grown 0.7% in the first quarter and, according to forecasts of the Bank of France confirmed this week, will return to climb 0.3% between July and September, and 2016 will end with a rise in global 1.4%.

The Government expects a growth of 1.5%. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) revised on Wednesday to lower his expectations and now estimates that GDP French will rise 1.3% this year.

Sources INSEE confirmed to Efe that two factors which weighed heavily in the final outcome of the fall of 0.1% in the second quarter were the fact that the growth had been particularly intense in the first three months of the year and the impact of the strikes during the spring against the labor reform, which resulted on the whole in the stop of the activity in refineries.

On the first, the sources noted that the statistical institute was reviewed on two occasions (increase) the increase in GDP in the first quarter: first we estimated to be 0.5%, 0.6% and now 0.7%.

In the second, confirmed that the strikes in the refineries and in general in the oil sector reduced the industrial production in the second quarter, but noted that it as much represented a reduction of 0.1 points of GDP.

in Addition, the statistics of the summer put on evidence that has been recovered that lost ground with a rise of industrial production around 40% in the oil sector in July.