The Bank of France (BdF) said on Thursday that with the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variants, companies are facing increasingly uncertain health conditions. It is expected that France’s economic growth rate in the fourth quarter will be slightly less than 0.75%. .
In the context of the fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic in France, the central bank has lowered its growth forecast for the period from October to December to the marginal. Previously, last month it stated that it fully expected a quarterly growth of 0.75%.
Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Monday that nightclubs will be closed for a month until Christmas and will strengthen social distancing measures. However, he ruled out the hypothesis that the country would be closed again.
As part of the monthly economic survey, the companies surveyed by BdF stated that they expect activity in the service and industrial sectors to improve in December, and activity in the construction industry will also stabilize.
For all industries, especially the service industry, hiring difficulties have increased slightly. 51% of business leaders said they have encountered problems in hiring, up from 49% in October.
At the same time, supply chain problems in the industrial sector continue to deteriorate, with 57% of companies saying they have been punished, up from 56% in October. However, in the construction industry, according to the executives interviewed, the situation has calmed down. 56% of executives said they had encountered difficulties, compared with 58% before.
The Bank of France estimates that the economic performance level in December was 0.75% higher than the activity level before the health crisis.