French economy contracts 0.1 percent in third quarter
PARIS (Reuters) - France's economy contracted 0.1 percent in the third quarter, slowing sharply from growth of 0.5 percent in the previous three months, the INSEE statistics agency said on Thursday.
The preliminary reading fell short of expectations for slight growth of 0.1 percent, according to a Reuters poll of 22 economists.
Economic activity was widely expected to slow after the economy surged out of a shallow recession in the second quarter because of one-off factors like exceptionally high electricity production amid particularly cold weather.
INSEE reported that domestic demand was flat in the third quarter while investment fell 0.6 percent and household spending rose 0.2 percent. Stock rebuilding by companies had a positive effect, adding 0.5 percent to output.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by James Regan)
