France growing at half UK pace after terror attacks

Terror attacks and jittery consumers have left France growing at less than half the pace of the UK, official figures showed on Friday.

Atrocities like the Nice attack sapped the morale of the French economy, which expanded at a much weaker-than-expected 0.2% between July and September.

Consumer spending was flat for the second quarter running and tourism is down.

The weakness compares with the 0.5% expansion in the UK over the same period.

The stuttering growth also puts France’s 1.5% annual growth target virtually out of reach, a major blow to President Francois Hollande ahead of the presidential election in April.

It is the eurozone’s second-biggest economy behind Germany.

A bumper tourist season helped Spain grow 0.7%.

Figures for the wider eurozone next week are likely to show more sluggish growth of 0.3%.