France: Business confidence plummets to over one-decade low in April

In April, the French Statistical Institute’s (INSEE) business climate indicator for the manufacturing sector fell to 82 in April from 98 in March. As a result, the indicator plunged further below the 100-threshold, its long-term average.

Manufacturers’ general production expectations sank amid plummeting new orders, as Covid-19 torpedoed demand. Moreover, employment intentions plunged deeper into negative territory, as did firms’ assessment of their past workforce size.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists see fixed investment falling 1.9% in 2020, which is down 4.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2021, the panel sees fixed investment growth at 3.0%.