PARIS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- France's statistics institute Insee on Wednesday confirmed in its second estimate that the country's GDP rose by 0.2 percent in the second quarter, the same pace as in the first quarter.
For the April-June period, households expenditure, one of the country's key growth engine, inched down by 0.1 percent mainly due to fall in energy "because of temperatures higher than the seasonal norms in April," Insee said.
The institute's figures showed corporate investment growing by 1.3 percent in the second quarter compared to 0.1 percent rise in the first three months of the year, while output of manufactured goods reported negative performance.
Imports recovered sharply by 1 percent after it had decreased by 0.4 percent in first quarter. At lesser extent, sales abroad recorded 0.2 percent growth. As a result, foreign trade contribution on the GDP was negative, Insee said.
For the whole year of 2018, French government lowers growth forecast to 1.7 percent from an initial target of 1.9 percent due to lower-than-expected quarterly results.
