PARIS (Reuters) – The French economy is still on course to rebound 5% this year despite the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the central bank said on Tuesday, reiterating its December forecast.
The euro zone’s second-biggest economy suffered its deepest post-war recession last year, with gross domestic product contracting 8.3% due to the coronavirus outbreak and measures to contain it, including two national lockdowns.
“I can confirm our forecast for 5% growth for the whole of 2021. It’s robust and rather cautious while reflecting of course the great uncertainty around the health situation,” Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said in an interview with the Ebra regional newspapers group.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has built the 2021 budget on a forecast for 6% growth this year, although he has in recent weeks indicated that that might be a stretch.
The central bank estimated on Tuesday that the economy was likely operating this month down 5% from pre-crisis levels, unchanged from the previous two months.
Companies consulted by the central bank in its monthly business climate survey reported stable expectations for business activity despite high uncertainty over the health outlook, the Bank of France said in a monthly report.
The French government has for now held off on imposing a new, third national coronavirus lockdown although it has also not ruled such action out if the outbreak risks spiralling further out of control.
Last month the government tightened restrictions by moving an 8:00 pm curfew to 6:00 pm and required large shopping centres to close as well as the hospitality and entertainment sectors, which have already been largely closed for months.
Reflecting such restrictions, the central bank’s survey showed that the service sector continued to be harder hit than the industry, where production capacity reached 74% in January compared with a pre-crisis average of 79%.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the country’s merchandise trade deficit narrowed to $1.3 billion in September as imports fell more than exports.
The result compared with a revised deficit of $1.5 billion for August. The initial estimate for August released last month had shown a deficit of $1.1 billion.
Statistics Canada says the results for September came as total exports edged down 0.1 per cent to $63.9 billion.
Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 5.4 per cent as exports of unwrought gold, silver, and platinum group metals, and their alloys, decreased 15.4 per cent. Exports of energy products dropped 2.6 per cent as lower prices weighed on crude oil exports.
Meanwhile, imports for September fell 0.4 per cent to $65.1 billion as imports of metal and non-metallic mineral products dropped 12.7 per cent.
In volume terms, total exports rose 1.4 per cent in September while total imports were essentially unchanged in September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
