By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) – The French economy will return to its pre-COVID 19 levels of economic activity by the first half of 2022, said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday, who also reaffirmed his target of 5% economic growth for France in 2021.
“Economic growth is back in the first quarter… I think we will have a strong growth in 2021,” Le Maire told France Info radio.
He ruled out a second economic stimulus plan on top of France’s current 100 billion euros ($122 billion) economic stimulus plan.
Le Maire, added, however that it was fair to raise the issue of longer-term investment plans for France.
President Emmanuel Macron pointed last week to a “second period of recovery” that would see investment accelerated, triggering speculation in the press and among economists that a second round of stimulus was in the pipeline.
($1 = 0.8226 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
