France’s 1Q growth rate stagnated at 0%… Impact of sluggish domestic demand
People wearing masks walk along the Champs Elysees in Paris. [이미지출처=연합뉴스]
[아시아경제 이춘희 기자] France did not achieve economic growth in the first quarter of this year. Economic growth stagnated due to sluggish domestic demand caused by inflation.
France’s National Statistical Office (Insee) announced on the 29th (local time) that there was no change in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of this year (January to March). As a result, GDP growth this year is expected to be 2.4%.
Last year, France’s GDP grew 0.2% in the first quarter, 1.5% in the second quarter, 3.0% in the third quarter, and 0.8% in the fourth quarter, growing at an annual 7.0% growth rate, the highest growth rate since 1969.
France’s National Statistical Office pointed to sluggish domestic demand as the cause of the stagnant economic growth. In the first quarter of this year, household consumption expenditure decreased by 1.3% from 0.6% in the fourth quarter of last year. In particular, spending fell 5.3 percent in the hotel and restaurant industries, and spending on clothing and textiles also fell by 1.7 percent.
The annual inflation rate for April of this year was reported to have risen 0.3 percentage points to 4.8% compared to the previous month as prices for services, food and manufactured goods rose. According to Bloomberg News, when converted to the HICP index used by the European Central Bank (ECB), the inflation rate in April was 5.4%, the highest since the introduction of the euro in the early 1990s.
Reporter Lee Chun-hee spring@asiae.co.kr
