FRANCE/FILE: As France's economy contracts in the third quarter, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici says that the weakness is due to temporary factors

Record ID: 861206

  • Title: FRANCE/FILE: As France's economy contracts in the third quarter, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici says that the weakness is due to temporary factors
  • Date: 14th November 2013
  • Summary: CRETEIL, FRANCE (MARCH 18, 2012) (REUTERS) JOB APPLICANTS ENTERING AGENCY EMPLOYMENT COUNSELLORS TALKING TO JOB APPLICANTS JOB APPLICANTS QUEUING JOB APPLICANT TYPING ON COMPUTER COMPUTER SCREEN SHOWING 'POLE EMPLOI' WEBSITE COMPUTER SCREEN READING (French) "JOB SEARCH" PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - OCTOBER 19, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PARIS STREETS
  • Embargoed: 29th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Economy
  • Reuters ID: LVA6DYZKZEQWYPGZD7J715I7CTE4
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  • Story Text: As France's economy stalled in the third quarter, on Thursday (November 14) the country's finance minister put the 0.1 percent contraction down to temporary factors, sticking by his overall growth forecasts for 2013.
    Investment dropped in the three months to September, with the figures dealing a new blow to President Francois Hollande's efforts to revive the euro zone's second biggest economy.
    But Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Thursday that the contraction was due to temporary factors like a slowdown in aircraft orders, sticking by his forecast for growth of 0.1-0.2 percent over the whole of 2013.

    "We were expecting a pause in the third quarter, it's not a surprise, it's not an indicator of decline, it's not a recession. It's just one moment in this year which is a year of recovery for France," Moscovici told French radio RTL.

    "So as I said, the French economy has set off in the right direction. It is on track for an annual growth rate of 1 percent. And I'm sticking to my figures, 0.1 - 0.2 percent (growth) for 2013," he added.
    Moscovici also reiterated once more the government's commitment to reverse the trend of increasing unemployment by the end of the year.
    The 2 trillion euro economy shrank 0.1 percent in the quarter, slowing sharply from growth of 0.5 percent in the previous three months, the INSEE statistics agency said on Thursday.
    The preliminary reading fell short of expectations for slight growth of 0.1 percent, according to a Reuters poll of 22 economists.
    Economic activity was widely expected to slow after the economy surged out of a shallow recession in the second quarter because of one-off factors like exceptionally high electricity production brought on by particularly cold weather.
    Hollande's government faces growing concerns about its ability to revive growth with Standard & Poor's cutting France sovereign rating to AA from AA+ last Friday over such doubts.
    Adding its voice to a growing chorus calling for France to carry out more reforms, the OECD said on Thursday that France was falling behind southern European countries that have overhauled their economies to become more competitive.
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