PARIS: French national statistics institute Insee revised up growth rate of the eurozone’s second biggest economy to 1.2 percent in 2015 here the other day, up by 0.1 percent from a previous estimate and above government objective.
For the last three months of last year, growth was unchanged at 0.3 percent, Insee added.
In 2015, France saw household consumption at 1.4 percent, up from 0.6 percent with purchasing power gained seven percentage points to 1.8 percent.
With the domestic business climate improving, the country’s total manufacturing sector gained ground with its output rose by 1.7 percent after it had reported a tepid rise of 0.3 percent in 2014, the report said.
Over the period, sales abroad expanded by 6.1 percent compared to 2.4 percent in 2014 while imports grew by 6.7 percent from 3.9 percent with the foreign trade balance contributed negatively to activity, it added.
The government forecasts 1.5 percent for the whole year of 2016.
