In the first quarter of the current year, France's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.6 percent quarter on quarter, according to the detailed statistics released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). In the fourth quarter of 2014, French GDP had remained stable on quarter-on-quarter basis.
During the first quarter, in France household consumption expenditure increased by 0.8 percent quarter on quarter, after increasing 0.1 percent quarter on quarter in the last quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, France's import value increased by 2.3 percent quarter on quarter, after a 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in the previous quarter, while the growth rate of the value of French exports increased by 0.9 percent quarter on quarter in Q1, after a 2.5 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in the previous quarter.
In France, production of manufactured goods in the first quarter increased by 1.3 percent, mainly due to a 5.6 percent increase in the output of transport equipment. Construction output in France declined further by one percent in the first quarter of this year, after a 0.9 percent fall recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014, both quarter on quarter.