France's central bank lowers Q1 growth estimate to 0.3 pct

PARIS, April 11 (Xinhua) -- France was set to report 0.3 percent growth over the first quarter of the year, the country's central bank, Banque de France (BdF), said on Wednesday, revising down a previous estimate by one percentage point.

In its monthly economic survey based on business leaders sentiment, BdF noted industrial production decelerated at the end of March as slower trend of aerospace, computer hardware and other equipment offset dynamism of electrical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

The capacity utilisation was slightly down to 80.4 percent over the period against 80.5 percent in February, BdF data showed.

As to services outlook, the business leaders forecasted boosted activity in the short term after reporting a strong growth in March.

Last month, the business sentiment indicator in industry lost two points to 103 while that of services was unchanged at 103.

France wants to accelerate its gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.7 percent for the whole year of 2018. Enditem