France’s Economy To See Recession In 2009

The Associated Press reports that France’s economy will sink into a recession in 2009, shrinking by at least 1%, Christine Lagarde, the country’s finance minister said. Lagarde blamed the dismal figures on the world economic crisis and said they reflected negative growth in the fourth quarter of 2008.

French officials had previously announced growth between 0.2% to 0.5% for 2009, but Lagarde recently expressed doubt about those figures, saying she would be “very surprised that we have positive growth.” France’s gross domestic product grew by 0.7% in 2008, though the economy shrunk by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the Insee national statistics agency.