Buoyant exports enabled the French economy to rebound faster than expected in the second quarter after a slight contraction at the start of the year, official data showed on Friday.
France's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.5% in the period from April to June, the national statistics institute Insee calculated in a statement.
Both Banque de France and Insee itself had been pencilling in growth of 0.20-0.25% for the second quarter after the French economy contracted by 0.2% in the preceding three months.
The better-than-expected performance was driven primarily by booming foreign trade, with exports growing by 0.8%, Insee said.
At the same time, domestic demand remained sluggish and household spending shrank by 0.2%, even if that was a much shallower contraction than the 1.3% recorded in the first quarter, Insee said.
Based on the second-quarter data, Insee said it projected the French economy to grow by 2.5% overall for the whole of 2022, in line with the government's own forecasts and slightly better than the 2.3% projected by the Banque de France and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Other European Union and eurozone members are also scheduled to publish second-quarter GDP figures on Friday.
The day before, official data showed that the US economy shrank by 0.9% in the period from April to June, putting the world's biggest economy in recession.
