The growth domestic product (GDP) of France will grow 1.5 per cent this year, a slower-than-expected, the country’s deputy finance minister said on Monday.
The GDP will grow at the weaker than expected rate as a wave of nationwide unrest and violent protests in Paris hurts retail and the tourism industry in the Christmas run-up, said the minister.
Agnes Pannier-Runacher echoed her boss Bruno Le Maire’s forecast for the “yellow vest” protests to trim GDP by 0.1 percentage points.
The government’s official estimate is for 1.7 per cent growth, while the INSEE statistics agency forecasts 1.6 per cent, reports Reuters.
“Growth will be more like 1.5 per cent,” Pannier-Runacher told LCI television.