French consumer spending rebounds

July 23, 2009 07:04:59 AM

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Consumer spending in recession-hit France rebounded in the second quarter, driven by a revival in car buying, official statistics showed on Wednesday.

Seasonally-adjusted figures from the INSEE statistics institute showed household spending on manufactured products grew 1.4 percent in June after a dip in May, by 0.7 percent over the second quarter of 2009 and 0.2 percent in the first.

The second-quarter rise was driven "mainly by consumer spending on automobiles," it said.

Consumer spending, seen as a key driver of growth in Europe's third-biggest economy, was up by 1.2 percent over the past 12 months.

France's economy is expected to contract by three percent overall this year due to one of the harshest economic crises in decades.

Economy Minister Christine Lagarde hailed the consumer spending figures as better than expected. Speaking on French television ahead of their official publication she said that industrial production and the auto sector were looking up.

"In many industrial countries today, there is a slight upturn," she said.

Analysts greeted the news cautiously given that much of the boost was linked to a temporary government car scrappage scheme.

"Excluding cars, spending on manufactured goods was flat in the second quarter. The boost from cars cannot last forever," commented Gilles Moec, senior Europe analysts for Deutsche Bank, in a research note.

"Moreover, consumer spending never was the weak spot of the French economy in the current recession," he added. "The deeply negative export performance is more serious cause for concern when gauging the chance of a meaningful recovery later in the year."

Alexander Law, an economist at the Xerfi economics consultancy, underlined however that spending in June had held up even without a major contribution from the auto sector.

"The performance is even more remarkable because it was achieved without the help of the auto sector," he said in a research note, adding that sales were down 0.2 percent in June after a 2.5 percent rebound in May.