In the first quarter of the current year, France's gross domestic product (GDP) decreased 0.2 percent quarter on quarter, marking the third quarter-on-quarter decrease in the last four quarters, according to the detailed statistics released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). In the fourth quarter of 2012, a 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter decrease was recorded in French GDP.
During the first quarter, in France household consumption expenditure decreased by 0.1 percent quarter on quarter, having remained unchanged quarter on quarter in Q4 last year. Meanwhile, France's import value was nearly stable in the first quarter with a quarter-on-quarter increase of just 0.1 percent after a 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter decrease in the previous quarter, while the export value fell by 0.5 percent quarter on quarter in Q1, after a 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter decrease in the previous quarter.
In France, production in manufactured goods in the first quarter decreased at a slower rate of 0.3 percent, after a 2.2 percent decrease in the previous quarter, output in transport equipment fell by 2.1 percent after a 5.4 percent decrease in the previous quarter and output in coke and refined petroleum rose by 5.6 percent after an eight percent decline in Q4, all on quarter-on-quarter basis. Construction output in France declined further by 0.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, after a 0.9 percent fall recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012, both quarter on quarter.