The growth of the French gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to 3% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, a very high level and exceeding forecasts, which allows the national wealth to approach its level of before. the crisis (- 0.1%), estimated the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), Friday, October 29. “It is a figure which is beyond our expectations”, reacted the Minister of the Economy of the French Republic, Bruno Le Maire, qualifying it as exceptional result.
This 3% growth figure is higher than all estimates made by analysts and institutions, with INSEE itself forecasting 2.7% in its September projection and the Banque de France 2.3%. With the reopening of sectors related to leisure and tourism, household consumption spending has accelerated significantly, gaining 5% in one quarter, said INSEE.
“This allows us to achieve this exceptional performance: 3% growth in one quarter, this is unheard of for over fifty years. This is a performance that will allow us to immediately regain our pre-crisis level of activity”, the minister said. This is, in fact, the highest growth since the third quarter of 1968, apart from the rebound in summer 2020 (+ 18%) which followed the first confinement. The growth estimate for the second quarter is revised upwards, to 1.3%, reported Insee.
France is in the right direction
“We had planned to find it again at the end of 2021 at the earliest, perhaps at the beginning of 2022, and we will now return to our pre-crisis level of activity. This means that France is in the right direction. She sits up, she sits up quickly and she sits up hard,” said Le Maire.
France has also benefited from the increase in its exports (2.3%) while imports are almost stable (- 0.1%), so that the contribution of foreign trade to growth is positive at 0.6 point of GDP in the third quarter. Total production of market goods and services is largely driven by services, with hotel and restaurant business jumping 43.4% over the quarter. In contrast, the production of manufactured goods remains 6% below its pre-crisis level.
The euro zone also confirms its improvement with a growth of its GDP of 2.2% in the third quarter compared to the previous one, according to an estimate by Eurostat. In the second quarter, it had already recorded growth of 2.1%. For the European Union as a whole, the increase reached 2.1%, after growth of 2% in the second quarter. Among the large countries, Germany recorded one of the worst performances (+ 1.8%), behind in particular Spain (+ 2%), Italy (+ 2.6%) and therefore France.