PARIS (Reuters) – The French economy is expected to be “slightly less” affected than the rest of the euro zone by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia due to its lower dependence on Russian gas and fossil fuels, Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said on Saturday.
The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday lowered its growth forecast for the euro zone due to the conflict in Ukraine and it published three different scenarios for the coming years depending on the severity of the expected impact of this war and Sanctions.
The Banque de France will exceptionally publish two scenarios for the French economy on Monday morning, said François Villeroy de Galhau on France Inter.
Recalling that the loss of growth for the euro zone could amount to up to 2 points of cumulative GDP by 2024 in the ECB’s most severe scenario, François Villeroy de Galhau declared that “for France, it would probably be a a little less because our dependence on Russian gas is less than average and our dependence on fossil fuels (…) is less strong”.
The governor of the Banque de France insisted that no recession was expected, even in the most extreme scenario, and that these forecasts were subject to “a lot of uncertainty”.
(Report Gus Trompiz and Bertrand Boucey)
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