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France's economy grew at a steady pace in the first three months of the year, led by a rebound in household consumption, and helped by a waning of the negative effects of anti-government protests late last year.
Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent sequentially, the same rate of growth as in each of the previous two quarters. The expansion was in line with economists' expectations.
Household consumption grew 0.4 percent after stagnating in the previous quarter, while investment growth slowed to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent.
Domestic demand added 0.3 point to GDP growth versus 0.2 points in the previous quarter.
Imports growth eased to 0.9 percent from 1.2 percent and exports growth screeched to a halt at 0.1 percent versus 2.2 percent gain in the previous three months.
Thus, foreign trade deducted 0.3 points from GDP growth, while it had added 0.3 points in the previous quarter. Changes in inventories added 0.3 points after a 0.1 percent deduction.
"Recently announced tax cuts should support growth this year but will be curbed by the current high propensity of?French consumers to save," ING economist Julien Manceaux said.
