French growth supported 0.1% in Q1
INSEE confirmed the modest growth of 0.1% of GDP in the first quarter but revised the figure up in the fourth quarter 2009 to +0.6% +0.5% instead announced May
The figure for all of last year remains unchanged at -2.5%, the worst recession known the French economy in the postwar period.
In late March, the acquired growth for 2010 came to 0.8%.
Consumer spending by French households have stagnated in January-March when they were up 1.0% at end 2009 (0.9% in the previous estimate) before the reduction of vehicle scrappage.
The total investment fell by 0.9% (after -1.1% in the fourth quarter), with declines of 0.6% for household investment and 1.0% for non-financial firms.
The government spending stagnated after rising 0.6% in late 2009.
The total final domestic demand (excluding inventories) contributed negatively to growth (-0.2 instead of -0.1 points initially estimated), after +0.5% in October to December.
Changes in inventories also contributed negatively by 0.2 percentage points (instead of -0.1) to the growth in the first quarter as foreign trade contributed positively to the tune of 0.4 points.Exports increased by 4.1% (instead of 3.9%) in the quarter, almost twice more than imports (+2.1% instead of 2.0%).
Detailed results of the national accounts also reveal that the disposable income of households rose 0.4% in fourth quarter, after rising 0.2% in the previous three months.But the benefits have slowed, increased taxes and inflation accelerated, so that the purchasing power of disposable income fell 0.1%, after stability in the fourth quarter.
The savings rate has meanwhile declined slightly to 15.7% from 15.8% in late 2009.
Last indication given by INSEE, the margin of non-financial corporations increased by 1.2 points to 30.5%.
