France tops Britain for growth
FRANCE has leapfrogged Britain in the world economy league table, climbing from fifth to fourth place because of the euro's summer recovery on foreign exchanges.
The Office for National Statistics, which today confirmed the UK economy expanded by 0.3% in the second quarter, said our gross domestic product in the period was £270bn, while France's was £271bn, assuming an average exchange rate of 70.21p to the euro.
The switch in the world rankings comes despite the fact that Britain grew in the second quarter while France shrank by 0.3%, highlighting the fact that it is purely an exchange rate phenomenon.
It is the first time France has overtaken Britain since the second quarter of 1999 when the euro went into freefall.
Economists said the move was likely to prove temporary because of Britain's rosier growth prospects and the euro's current slide. 'We will almost certainly be back above France in the next quarter, and probably throughout 2004,' said Investec's David Page.
The ONS said household spending grew by 1.3% in the second quarter, the strongest pace in almost two years. In contrast, net trade dragged GDP down by 1.1%. The services sector grew by 0.3%, less than the initial estimate of 0.4%.
