France headed back into recession, country’s central bank warns

PanARMENIAN.Net - France is headed back into recession for the second time in three years, its central bank warned Wednesday, August 8 in a setback for the recovery prospects of the stricken eurozone, AFP said.

In a downbeat survey on the outlook for Europe's second biggest economy, the Bank of France predicted a 0.1 percent contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter of this year.

If that outcome is confirmed it would follow a similar fall in output for the three months to June and zero growth in the first quarter of 2012.

The Bank of France's survey followed worse-than-expected data from neighbouring Italy and Germany earlier this week.

Italy reported Tuesday that second-quarter GDP was 2.5 percent lower than a year earlier while German industrial orders dropped 1.7 percent in May, largely as a result of slumping demand from within the 17-member eurozone.

The gloomy data have dampened a wave of optimism that an end to the eurozone crisis could be in sight.

France emerged from its last recession - defined by economists as two consecutive quarters of negative growth - in the spring of 2009.

The economy has since struggled to gain momentum in the face of the eurozone debt crisis, which has sapped business and consumer confidence. Uncertainty over the fate of the euro and related problems in credit markets have resulted in consumers and investors either cancelling or delaying major spending decisions.

This has hit the construction and automobile industries in France particularly hard. New housing starts in the second quarter were 14 percent below 2011 levels while July car sales were down 7.0 percent on a year earlier.

With these job-intensive sectors struggling, unemployment has spiked. Latest figures put the jobless total at nearly 10 percent of the workforce with a further 5.0 percent working fewer hours than they would like.

Faced with an economy deteriorating on almost every front, the Socialist government was last month forced to cut its growth forecast for the full year from 0.4 to 0.3 percent, and from 1.7 to 1.2 percent for 2013.

France is seeking to reduce its public deficit -- the shortfall between revenue to spending -- from around 4.5 percent of GDP this year to the EU limit of 3.0 percent by the end of 2013.