France’s economy contracted in the third quarter by 0.1%, according to revised data from the INSEE statistics office published on Thursday, whilst November inflation eased more than forecast.

The level of gross fixed capital formation, signalling how much of the new value added in an economy is invested as opposed to consumed, within France’s national output was downwardly revised, Reuters reports, whilst the domestic demand contribution also decelerated to 0.2 points, INSEE stated.

The statistics office added that the contribution of external trade at -0.4 points also had a negative impact on GDP between July and September as imports increased.

During November, the EU-harmonised preliminary inflation reached a figure of 3.8% year-on-year, falling short of a Reuters survey of 19 economists which had forecast 4.1%. The inflation declined from 4.5% in October, aided by easing energy price pressure and the services sector.

Furthermore, food prices in France increased 7.6% in November, compared to 7.8% in October, whereas the rise in energy prices slowed down to 3.1% following a 5.2% rise during the previous month.

Prices declined by 0.2% month-on-month as falling transportation and energy prices countered a month-on-month rise in food prices, the Reuters report goes on to add.

However, despite this unexpected contraction, the French government has maintained its growth forecast of 1% for 2023.

“I maintain my growth forecasts. We will have positive growth this year and higher growth in 2024 than in 2023,” said the country’s Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, going on to say that he remained with his growth forecast of 1.4% in 2024.