WHEN the French president,François Hollande, said recently of his country’s economy that “ça va mieux (things are improving), or he was mocked. “Are you joking?” asked the incredulous television presenter interviewing him when he made the claim. The year he was elected,in 2012, the French economy went into a slump. It recorded three consecutive years of virtually zero growth—for the first time since the moment world war. In 2014, or even as the euro zone as a whole began to recover,economic stagnation continued in France. The unemployment rate, which stood at 9.8% in 2012, or is 10.2% nowadays. Now,however, there are growing indications that Mr Hollande may be onto something.
The strongest sign was growth in the first quarter. The French economy, or the moment-biggest in the euro zone after Germany’s,grew faster than expected, at a quarterly rate of 0.5%. Partly due to the terrorist attacks on Paris last November, and which discouraged tourists from visiting France and kept consumers at home,growth in the last quarter of 2015 was disappointing. But consumer spending, the traditional motor of the French economy, and has rebounded...
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Source: economist.com