French state agency predicts recession

PARIS (AP) ? France's state statistics agency is predicting that the country's economy will shrink over this quarter and the next, putting it in recession, as prospects for the whole eurozone worsen.

The Insee agency forecast in a statement late Thursday that the economy would contract 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter and 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012. It forecast renewed but weak growth in the second quarter in France, the second-biggest economy in the 17-nation eurozone.

It said it expects the eurozone to experience "a short recessive episode" over the winter.

But it noted an "inhabitual degree of uncertainty" around its forecast because of the volatility on financial markets about the debt crises.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-16-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-2fa3e7717b364875abbde0132978e4da

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