[Economics] The French economy expands 7% last year, the highest rate recorded in half a century

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The Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, maintains that the GDP has recovered its pre-pandemic size

 

 

Last year, the French economy overcame the blow dealt by the pandemic by registering a growth of 7%, the highest it has experienced in the last 52 years. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INSEE, for its acronym in French), the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 0.7% in the quarter of the year. That allowed it to exceed “in net terms” the levels prior to the pandemic, according to a statement. The data is higher than that advanced by INSEE itself and that forecast by the Bank of France, which predicted an expansion of 6.7% for the year as a whole.

In the final stretch of the year, the country gave the push it needed for its economy to recover its pre-pandemic size. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, stated on the public channel France 2 that "the French economy exceeds the wealth it had in 2019 and recovers the level prior to the crisis", while saying that "it is moving at full capacity and It has a strong reaction capacity.”

France registers an unprecedented employment rate since 1975, with a record drop in unemployment, and a rate of business investment higher than before the health crisis, supported the Executive's aid to mitigate the effects of the health crisis, some 60,000 millions of euros. Despite this, the French economy has not yet returned to normal, since the first part of the year was still marked by restrictions to curb covid.

 

 

The production of goods and services closed on the locomotive of growth, with a rise of 7.4%, after having fallen by 8.5% in 2020, although they have not yet recovered the average level of 2019. Domestic consumption paid the Restrictions in the first part of the year and closed 2021 with a rise of 4.8%, after the fall of 7.2% the previous year. Investments exceeded their 2019 level, after registering a rise of 11.6%.

International trade maintained the effects of the crisis and both exports and imports were far from their pre-crisis level. As for exports, they were 8.5% less than in 2019, while imports were 5.5% below the average for that year. Despite this, it made a positive contribution to the rise in GDP of 0.2 points, after subtracting 1.1 points from it in 2020.

The INSEE had that the recovery of foreign trade intensified in the last quarter, especially imports, which rose by 3.6%, after having done so by 0.8% in the previous one, while exports improved by 3.2 % after 1.7%.

 

Link: https://elpais.com/economia/2022-01-28/la-economia-francesa-se-expande-el-7-el-ano-pasado-la-mayor-tasa-registrada-en-medio-siglo.html