France's economy grew 0.2 percent in the first quarter on the back of greater industrial production and increased foreign trade, the national statistics agency INSEE announced on Friday. Germany narrowly avoided recession, reporting flat GDP in the first three months of 2023.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire hailed the "solidity" of the French economy.
"Companies are continuing to invest and create jobs, bringing us closer to our objective of full employment," he added.
The growth figure was marginally higher than the 0.1 percent expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) forecast by the statistics agency earlier, and higher than the zero growth recorded in the final quarter of last year.
Household consumption, a key component of economic demand, was flat after having dropped by 1.0 percent in the final quarter of last year.
Inflation has eroded the purchasing power of many French people, raising concerns about a hit to consumer consumption and the overall economy.
French eating less, heating more
Food consumption fell by 2.3 percent as food price inflation hit double digits in France. The drop is the fifth straight quarterly decline.
French households spent more on energy, however, although INSEE said a later payment in subsidies by the government was responsible in part for the increase.
A series of strikes over the first three months of the year in protest against an increases in the minimum pension age had only a limited impact on the economy.
INSEE noted that production at oil refineries actually rose as strikes there had been more intense in the final quarter of last year.
Manufacturing rose by 0.7 percent and the reopening of nuclear power plants following repairs helped drive a 3.1 percent increase in energy production.
Neighbours not doing great, either
Italy's gross domestic product grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the previous three months, the national statistics agency said Friday in a preliminary estimate.
The eurozone's third-largest economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, but the growth this year means it escapes a recession.
The eurozone economy in general lumbered forward in the first quarter, official data showed Friday, expanding just 0.1 percent as high inflation and interest rates weigh on activity.
Germany, the EU's biggest economy, was the only country in the single-currency zone to record a contraction, of 0.1 percent, according to the figures from Eurostat, the EU's statistics office.
