The French Central Bank, Banque de France (BdF), on Thursday said it expected the country's economy to stagnate during April-June period owing to the persistent impacts of the eurozone financial turmoil.
In its monthly economic report, the BdF said French industrial businesses were stable at the end of April with "the declines in the automotive industry, the metal and metal product and rubber and plastic product sectors were offset by stability or growth in other sectors."
The capacity utilization rate fell slightly to 78.3 percent below its long-term average, and the industrial sector was set to decline over the coming months, it said.
Thanks to good performance of hotel and catering business, publishing and technical engineering sectors, services continued to expand at a pace comparable to that of March. However, the bank pointed to eventual slight slowdown in the sector.
The business sentiment indicator in industry and services remained unchanged at 95 and 93 respectively.
In previous reports, Banque de France maintained zero growth forecast during the first three months of the year pointing to growing risks of a recession in the eurozone's second largest economy.
Facing renewed threats of a possible debt crisis contagion, France slashed its growth rate to 0.7 percent this year from a previous target of 1 percent./.