PARIS (Reuters) – France’s economy eked out meagre growth in the third quarter of 2022 while household spending fell more than expected in October and inflation remained at a high of 7.1% in November.
Consumer spending fell 2.8% in October month-on-month against expectations of a 0.6% decline, reflecting notably a 7.9% fall in energy consumption amid high energy prices made worse by the war in Ukraine.
French consumer prices rose 6.2% year-on-year in November, unchanged from October, reflecting higher food and manufactured goods prices and a slight slowdown in energy prices, preliminary data from INSEE also showed.
On an EU-harmonised basis, the year-on-year rate remained at 7.1% in November, in line with the forecasts of economists polled by Reuters.
INSEE also reported third quarter economic growth of 0.2%, unchanged from a preliminary estimate of 0.2%.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Andrew Heavens)