Left, right or centre — French economy may decide

Thursday. The odds are still strongly against it happening: the polls show former economy minister Macron winning the big prize. But the fact is that perennial outsider Mélenchon and Le Pen are in the frame.

France’s economy offers a mixed bag. Unemployment is at 10 per cent and has been around that mark for five years. Projected economic growth of just 1.4 per cent for this year puts France down at 25th equal (with Belgium) out of 28 EU countries.

Other data shows the strain too. A study by World Economics of the relative value of euros within the euro zone, shows a yawning gap between Germany and France, making the latter far less competitive.

But although growth is weak, France performs much better than other economies such as the United States and Britain in terms of income equality.

One recent study, for example, found that the median French income in 2012 was about 17 per cent higher than in 1996, while the median US income was just 2 per cent above its 1996 level.

How all this plays with the French equivalent of the angry, left-out voters who went for Trump and Brexit remains to be seen.

One recent bright spot for France has been the Purchasing Managers’ Index, which has shown a degree of rising optimism among businesses as the euro zone also improves.

On Friday in the coming week — just before the first round vote — flash PMIs for April are released. Last time around all three of France’s readings — manufacturing, services and composite — were well in the expansion range, particularly services.

Early Reuters polling suggests the services and manufacturing reports will essentially be unchanged, possibly as a result of election uncertainty. — Reuters