Growth in French mortgage lending slowed to the weakest pace this year in September as the European Central Bank’s rate hikes began to dent demand in the euro area’s second-largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Outstanding lending for home purchases grew 6.2% from a year earlier after rising 6.3% in August, and the Bank of France said early indicators show a further slowdown to 6% in October. The average interest rate for new housing loans is estimated at 1.79% in October -- the most expensive since 2016.

Tens of thousands of French workers took to the streets Tuesday across the country, striking for pay hikes that keep up with rising inflation, the Associated Press reported. The industrial action came after weeks of walkouts that have hobbled French oil refineries and sparked gasoline shortages around the country. “It’s time to go back to work,” French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Tuesday about people on strike in the French refineries of oil giant TotalEnergies.

The French government moved to break blockades at fuel depots of some of the country’s biggest refineries, where weeks-long strikes that have brought shortages and long lines at gas stations, Bloomberg News reported. With wage talks between managements and some unions not going far enough, the labor actions have left almost a third of the gas stations in the country with supply shortfalls.

The French economy will slow sharply next year in the face of Europe's energy crisis, with a risk of a "limited and temporary" recession in the worst-case scenario, the central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The euro zone's second-biggest economy is on course for an expansion this year of 2.6% but growth will slow to 0.5% in 2023, the Bank of France said, under its reference scenario based on recent oil and gas futures prices.

The French government is lowering the country's 2023 economic growth outlook, but sees no need to revise its budget deficit target as a result, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Growth in the euro zone's second-biggest economy is now expected to slow from an estimated 2.5% this year to 1% next year, down from 1.4% previously, Le Maire told journalists as he outlined the main forecasts underpinning the 2023 budget bill due later this month.

French power distributor Electricite de Strasbourg SA oversold large quantities of electricity due to trading errors earlier this week, a mistake that could cost the company 60 million euros ($60.3 million). The utility’s ES Energies Strasbourg unit made quantity errors on transactions on Tuesday and Wednesday amounting to 2.03 gigawatts and 5.75 gigawatts of electricity, the company said in a statement.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne urged businesses to cut energy use or face possible rationing this winter if Russia halts gas deliveries, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s urgent to stop any energy consumption that isn’t indispensable immediately,” Borne said on Monday in a speech to business leaders at a conference near Paris. If not “there could be brutal gas outages overnight and serious economic and social consequences,” she said, adding that “companies would be the first hit” by any rationing.

The French Parliament approved an inflation relief package on Thursday that aims to prop up citizens’ purchasing power and help them deal with soaring consumer prices and energy costs, the New York Times reported. The package was split into two bills. The first, specifically designed to fight inflation with a raft of measures worth 20 billion euros, or about $20.4 billion, was passed by the two houses of Parliament on Wednesday.

France needs to mobilise to prepare for the probable scenario of energy shortages this autumn because Russia is using cuts in supplies to Europe as a weapon in its war with Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Speaking in a televised interview to mark France's national day, Macron said part of that mobilisation would involve French consumers and businesses scaling back their energy use. "We need to prepare ourselves for a scenario where we have to manage completely without Russian gas," he said.

The French government is poised to pay more than 8 billion euros ($8.05 billion) to bring power giant EDF back under full state control, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, adding the aim is to complete the deal in the fourth quarter, Reuters reported. One of the sources said the cost of buying the 16% stake the state does not already own could be as high as almost 10 billion euros, when accounting for outstanding convertible bonds and a premium to current market prices. EDF and the economy ministry declined to comment.