| French household goods consumption unexpectedly slumps in December |
| 31.01.12 10:22 | |
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French household goods consumption unexpectedly slumps in December; Q4 private consumption forecast unchanged at -0.1% q/q French household goods consumption unexpectedly slumped by 0.7% m/m (-3.1% y/y) in December, after +0.1% m/m (revised up 0.2pp) in November. Household consumption of manufactured goods also fell by 0.7% m/m (-2.4% y/y) in December after increasing by 0.2% m/m in November. This decrease is mainly imputable to the fall of food (-1.0% m/m) and energy products (-2.7% m/m) consumption, despite car purchases bouncing (1.6% m/m). The household consumption of goods remained stable in Q4 after +0.2% q/q in Q3. We expect household demand to contribute only slightly to French growth in the months ahead as we forecast flat 2012 GDP. Moreover, France's parliament approved the 2012 budget law, including austerity measures (on 7 November and 24 August) to trim the fiscal deficit to 4.5% of GDP next year from a 5.7% estimated deficit this year. Among the main measures are VAT, income tax and corporate tax increases. source: BarCap |
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