France: Encouraging outlook – ING

The French economic outlook still looks encouraging as business confidence surveys showed in November, according to Julien Manceaux, Senior Economist at ING.

Key Quotes

“Hiring intentions remain high and if not always close to their 2017 peak – are still very far from their historical lows as seen above.”

“Therefore, we expect the unemployment rate to continue declining in the coming quarters. This, together with lower oil prices, should allow for some private consumption growth acceleration in 2019. There is no euphoria though as private consumption growth will be limited at 1% this year and should only rebound by 1.5% in 2019 - not enough to avoid GDP growth slow down.”