In the second quarter of 2022, France experienced little economic growth relative to the previous quarter due to stagnant consumption, private investments and exports. However, GDP is 4.21 percent higher than in the same quarter of 2021, when COVID was still holding back of part of the economic activity in the country. The economic recovery, the production bottlenecks of the Chinese manufacturing firms that were forced to stop during the pandemic, and the uncertainty generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine have contributed to increasing inflation rates, 2.35 relative to the previous quarter and 5.29 relative to the previous year. Unemployment increased slightly to more than 7.5 percent. The OECD economic outlook expects annual inflation to stay around 5 percent until the end of the year and to gradually decline to 3.7 percent throughout 2023. GDP is expected to grow at an annual rate between 3.5 and 5.5 percent for the coming quarters, while unemployment is expected to increase to almost 8 percent until the end of 2023.

October 2022