ECB’s Villeroy: French Economy Expanded by 6.7% in 2021

8 December 2021

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The French economy will register growth of 6.7% for the full year 2021, European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said Wednesday.

In an interview with French commercial radio network RTL, Villeroy, who heads Banque de France, said that the results of a survey of French business leaders conducted after the Omicron variant of the coronavirus had emerged was ‘rather encouraging: business leaders do not significantly change their outlook for activity, French growth remains solid.’

While Omicron had introduced additional uncertainty, the French economy had surpassed pre-Covid levels already and domestic growth this year would be 6.7%, he said.

Supply constraints, now weighing on activity, would be temporary, whereas recruitment difficulties ‘are a little less severe today, but on the other hand we fear that they will be more lasting’, he said.

As for price pressures, ‘after a high for a few more months, inflation should fall in France next year and drop below 2% by the end of 2022’, he said.