France's economy should avoid falling into recession during the current quarter after contracting in the first three months of the year, the central bank said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The euro zone's second-biggest economy will grow around 0.25% in the three months to the end of June from the first quarter when it shrank 0.2%, the Bank of France said, revising its second quarter estimate marginally higher from 0.2% last month.
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President Emmanuel Macron aims to reform France’s pension system by the summer of 2023, he told French news outlets in his first extended interview since his re-election in April, Bloomberg News reported. The reform, which initially aimed to lift the retirement age from 62 to 65, is essential to financing Macron’s larger ambitions for his second five-year term. He discussed those plans in an interview with Le Parisien and regional French news outlets. Macron, who planned to reform the retirement system in 2020, had to postpone the change when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
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Emmanuel Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election on a pro-business, pro-European Union platform, bolstering the bloc in the midst of its worst security crisis in decades, Bloomberg News reported. With counting still under way, projections by France’s five main pollsters put Macron on course to win about 58% of the vote in Sunday’s runoff compared with 42% for Le Pen. The euro rose after the nationalist leader conceded defeat in a speech to her supporters in Paris.
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As President Emmanuel Macron far-right candidate Marine Le Pen cross France in a whirlwind of last-minute campaigning, their runoff will hinge to a large extent on perceptions of the economy, the New York Times reported. Worries about widening economic insecurity, and the surging cost of living amid the fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine, have become top issues in the race, ahead of security and immigration. Ms.
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French financial prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected tax fraud by American management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the Associated Press reported. The national financial prosecutor’s office said Wednesday the investigation was launched last week for alleged “money-laundering aggravated by tax fraud.” French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “shocked” by the suspicions of tax evasion on the part of consulting firms. “The response will be European, since we have passed a reform which will allow ...
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Delta Air Lines Inc. said it’s working with Air France-KLM as the Paris-based airline considers joining in the bidding for a stake in Italy’s state-owned carrier, Bloomberg reported. Italia Tranporto Aereo would be a welcome recruit to the North Atlantic alliance led by Delta, according to Ed Bastian, the U.S. carrier’s chief executive officer. “Air France-KLM is in the lead in terms of actually making a potential investment,” Bastian said in a briefing in London on Tuesday.
Electricite de France SA forecast a deeper hit to earnings from falling nuclear output and the French government’s cap on power prices for consumers, highlighting its vulnerability to Europe’s escalating energy crisis, Bloomberg reported. EDF had already warned it would be squeezed this year, with its French atomic output dropping to a three-decade low due to reactor works. The situation has been worsened by a government decision to force EDF to sell more power at a discount and to delay part of a tariff hike for customers.
France is to introduce a rebate of 0.15 euros ($0.16) per litre of transport fuel to help drivers cope with soaring pump prices, Prime Minister Jean Castex said, Reuters reported. The measure, to apply for four months from April 1, is expected to cost the government just over 2 billion euros, he said. Retail gasoline and diesel prices soared to record highs in many countries across the world this week as Russia's invasion of Ukraine added to market tensions, after economies had begun recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
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The French government is considering whether to revive an ambitious plan to nationalize debt-laden Electricite de France SA and reorganize its business with a focus on nuclear production, Bloomberg News reported. The energy market chaos exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine is giving fresh impetus to France’s long-mooted push to restructure its biggest power supplier. Officials have been having early talks with potential advisers about the idea of buying out EDF’s minority shareholders and delisting the company from the stock market.
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Air France-KLM is exploring new ways to raise funds to pay back a government pandemic bailout, while cautiously ramping up capacity as the latest coronavirus wave fades, Bloomberg News reported. The shares fell as much as 6.3% in Paris on Thursday after the struggling airline laid out options to raise capital of as much as 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion). Selling more equity would help the group lower debt and free itself from the conditions of state aid, but would also dilute existing owners.
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