French Central Bank confirms 0.1 % growth contraction in Q3

France Central Bank (BdF) on Monday maintained third quarter growth contraction forecast on persistent grim economic indicators. In its monthly report, the BdF said "industrial activity declined globally" in September as weak performance of electronic equipment, the pharmaceutical industry and the clothing sector offset the imporvement in food processing and transport businesses. Forecasts pointed to a decline growth in October, it added. As to services sector, activity decreased last month but its outlook for this month would be slightly more positive, according to the bank. Industry indicators lost a point to 93 points in September, while those of services were unchanged at 91 points over the period. In recent report, the national statistics bureau, Insee expected zero growth over the third and fourth quarters of the year, compared to an initial forecast of 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. For the full year, Insee forecast the gross domestic production (GDP) growth of the French economy to stand at 0.2 percent, making it hard for the eurozone's second largest economy to recover with unemployment exceeding 10 percent.