French Economy Set to Continue Growth in 2018

The French economy will continue to grow at a relatively steady clip in the beginning of 2018, but "political uncertainties" in the U.S. remain a wild card, French statistics body Insee said Tuesday in its economic outlook.

After posting 1.9% growth in 2017, growing business optimism will push quarter-to-quarter growth to 0.5% in the beginning of 2018, and then 0.4% in the spring, Insee said. Unemployment should also continue to fall to 9.4%, down about 0.1% year-on-year mid-2018.

The agency also said that foreign trade will stop weighing on growth by the middle of next year, driven by agricultural exports and rising tourism.

--Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 19, 2017 13:15 ET (18:15 GMT)