French Economy: the balance of trade still in the red
The mid-year balance sheet suggests a black year for the French trade balance...
On Tuesday, 7 August, the publication of the first half of the year's foreign trade figures was an ambience! Although expected in the 2018 budget, the deficit is already 33.5 billion euros. In fact, the increase in oil prices still accounts for about 60% of the deficit. To this must be added the imports of automobiles...
Nevertheless, the good performance of the aeronautics, space and pharmaceutical industries, and an encouraging improvement in the performance of the agri-food sector, should be noted.
The deficit is forecast to be around €63 billion at the end of the year.
In order to reverse this rather sustainable trend, the government is pursuing a policy aimed at improving the performance of French companies in export... Let's hope it bears fruit.
Source(s): www.lesechos.fr