April 30 (Reuters) – The French economy was flat in the first quarter of this year, slowing from the previous three months, as contributions from inventories were offset by a decline in contributions from foreign trade.
The performance was below expectations by the INSEE statistics institute and analysts polled by Reuters, who forecast 0.2% growth for the quarter. The country’s economy had grown 0.2% in the previous three months.
(Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes)
