French economy grows by 1.7% in second quarter

France’s economy grew at 0.2% quarter on quarter in the second three months of the year, in line with initial estimates.

The annualised growth rate was 1.7%, as expected.

The French statistics agency INSEE said: “Imports bounced back this quarter (+1.0% after −0.4%) as did exports to a lesser extent (+0.2% after −0.4%). All in all, foreign trade balance contributed negatively to GDP growth, −0.3 points, after a neutral contribution in Q1”