PARIS, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Unless there is a sharp reversal in the final three months of the year, the French economy is likely to grow by at least 0.8% in 2025, outpacing the 0.7% that the government had anticipated, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Sunday.
“We will most likely exceed the government’s growth forecast for this year. We had predicted 0.7%, but I think we will have at least 0.8%. That’s good news,” Lescure told LCI television.
“So we would really need to have a bad fourth quarter, which I don’t believe will happen, for us to be below 0.8%, so 0.8% is within reach,” he added.
France’s economy grew 0.5% in the third quarter, final data from statistics office INSEE showed in November, reflecting resilience in the euro zone’s second-largest economy.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Louise Heavens)
