30.01.201803:22:00UTC+00French Consumer Spending Falls In December

French consumer spending declined in December after a sharp rebound in the previous month, figures from the statistical office INSEE showed Tuesday.

Consumer spending dropped 1.2 percent month-over-month in December, reversing a 3.0 percent increase in November.

Expenditure on food products fell notably by 1.4 percent from November, when it rose by 1.4 percent.

Similarly, consumption on engineered goods slid 1.4 percent, in contrast to a 2.6 percent climb in the previous month.

Energy consumption registered a moderate decline of 0.4 percent in December.

During the fourth quarter, expenditure on goods edged down 0.1 percent compared with the previous quarter.

On a yearly basis, consumer spending grew 1.0 percent in December, slower than the 1.6 percent rise economists had forecast.