As national restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic crisis were progressively lifted in the first half of the year, France experienced a strong rebound in economic growth, in particular with respect to the previous year. In 2021-Q2, GDP grew by 18.69 percent relative to 2020-Q2. All components of GPD increased markedly. The national unemployment rate was still high at 8.2 percent and slightly increased relative to the previous quarters. There is a modest inflation rate, with a price increase of about 0.76 percent relative to the previous quarter and 1.38 percent relative to the same period of the previous year. According to the OECD economic outlook, GDP is expected to continuously grow and to stabilize at an annual growth rate of about 4.0 percent in 2022. Unemployment will gradually increase until the end of the year, and start to decrease in 2022, while prices will grow at an average rate of 1.0 percent.

October 2021