According to the report from INSEE, in the 4th quarter, the French economy expanded by 0.7% after growing by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter (revised from 3.0%). Economists had expected GDP to increase by 0.5%. Taking into account the latest increase, GDP exceeded the pre-crisis level (4th quarter of 2019) by 0.9%. Meanwhile, in annual terms, economic growth accelerated to 5.4% from 3.5% in the 3rd quarter (revised from 3.3%).
The data also showed that the final domestic demand (excluding stocks) had a positive impact on GDP growth compared to the 3rd quarter - the contribution was +0.5%. Meanwhile, the contribution from the growth of household consumer spending was +0.4%.
INSEE also reported that imports increased by 3.6% compared to the 3rd quarter, while exports increased by 3.2%. Against this background, the contribution of foreign trade to GDP growth was negative: -0.2%. However, the contribution of inventories to GDP growth was +0.4%.
On average, the French economy expanded by 7.0% in 2021 after falling by 8.0% in 2020. Thus, the average level of GDP in 2021 was 1.6% lower than its average level in 2019.