PARIS: With the final round of the French presidential election looming, Friday’s focus was on the country’s economy which continued its anaemic growth in the first three months of the year.
We learned it expanded by just 0.3 percent, slightly weaker than expected, and down from the previous quarter’s 0.5 percent.
Exports dropped (-0.7 percent) while imports rose (1.5 percent) and consumer spending growth stalled (0.1 percent) but that was mostly due to lower heating bills and people spending less on clothes due to unseasonably warm weather.
Unemployment – which is stuck close to 10 percent – was the undoing of outgoing president Francois Hollande, who had pledged not to run again unless he had cut the jobless total.
Both candidates in the May 7 runoff have promised reforms to revive growth and boost employment, but with radically different approaches.
