According to the report from Insee, in Q3 2019, GDP in volume terms grew at the same pace as the two previous quarters: +0.3%. Economists had expected a 0.2% increase.

Household consumption expenditures accelerated slightly (+0.3% after +0.2%), while total gross fixed capital formation decelerated (GFCF: +0.9% after +1.2%). Overall, final domestic demand excluding inventory changes remained dynamic and grew at the same pace as the previous quarter: it contributed 0.5 points to GDP growth.

Imports bounced back strongly (+1.4% after –0.3%) and exports grew this quarter (+0.3% after –0.1%). All in all, foreign trade balance contributed negatively to GDP growth: –0.4 points, after 0.0 points during the previous quarter. Changes in inventories contributed positively to GDP growth (+0.1 points after –0.2 points).

Production of goods and services decelerated slightly compared to the previous quarter (+0.3% after +0.4%). Output in goods stepped back again (–0.4% after –0.2%), while it grew at almost the same pace as the previous quarter in services (+0.5% after 0.6%).

Output in manufactured goods kept decreasing (–0.4% after –0.5%). Output decreased in all manufacturing sectors except for transport equipment.