France’s consumer spending rose at a faster-than-expected pace in December after declining for two months, figures from INSEE showed Friday.
Consumer spending grew 0.7 percent from November, when it fell 1.4 percent, revised from 1.1 percent. Economists had forecast a 0.5 percent gain.
Year-on-year, consumer spending rose 0.3 percent in December, which was much less than the 1.2 percent growth economists had forecast.
Expenditure on textile-clothing bounced back and food products consumption accelerated, the INSEE said.
In the fourth quarter, consumer spending decreased 0.9 percent from the previous three months, when it grew 0.7 percent. The agency attributed the decline mainly to a sharp fall in energy consumption.
For the full year 2015, household consumption grew an average 1.8 percent, mainly driven by a rebound in energy consumption.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com