Bank of France confirms Q4 growth at 0.5%

In its last fourth-quarter estimate, French central bank, la Banque de France (BdF) on Friday maintained unchanged its previous growth forecast at 0.5 percent during the last three month of 2013. Based on the results of its monthly business sentiment survey, the bank noted "industrial production declined overall" last month while "deliveries continued to grow and order books were considered to be adequate." However, the manufacturing industry's capacity utilisation rate stood at 74.9 percent, down from 76.7 percent recorded in November, the bank added. In a short term, the BdF expected a sharp rise in the sector whose index lost one point to 100, reaching its long term average. At the end of December, sentiment in the services sector, a major employer in France was steady at 92. Its staff levels were unchanged with prices stopped falling and cash positions reported a slight improvement, the bank's report showed.