France's GDP growth for the first quarter was revised down to 0.2% from an initial estimate of 0.3% as total production decelerated and household consumption expenditure slowed during the quarter, according to the second estimate from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
Total production slowed to 0.1% in the quarter from 1.0% in the fourth quarter of last year, with goods production falling 0.6% after rising by 1.1% in the previous quarter. Services production slipped to 0.4% from 0.9%.
Household consumption expenditure edged up 0.1% in the quarter, down from a 0.2% increase in the prior quarter. Consumption of goods fell for the second straight quarter as consumption of foods products declined by 0.3% after increasing by 0.1% in the prior quarter and spending on energy increased by 0.7% after falling by 0.5% in the prior quarter. Consumption of services slowed down to 0.4% from 0.5%.
Corporate investment slowed down in the first quarter because of a decline in manufactured goods; household investment also decelerated due to a slowdown in construction. The contribution of foreign trade to GDP was null during the quarter following a contribution of 0.7 point in the previous quarter.
According to a separate release, household consumption expenditure on goods fell by 1.5% in April after rising by a revised 0.2% in March as energy and food consumption declined sharply during the month and spending on manufactured goods slowed down.
