Paris attacks cost French economy 500 million euros
The 13 November Paris attacks cost France's economy about 500 million euros, reducing the rate of growth by a quarter, the Bank of France said Tuesday. The losses were mainly in the tourism sector, with Air France putting the effect on its income as 50 million euros.
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The Bank of France has revised its forecast of French growth for the fourth quarter of 2015 from 0.4 per cent to 0.3 per cent because of the effect of the terror attacks.
That means about 500 million euros, according to French Treasury estimates.
Hotels, restaurants and leisure activities "notably weakened in connection with the 13 November attacks", which targeted a music venue, cafés and restaurants, the bank said in a statement.
Employers indicated a rise in other economic activity and the bank last week confirmed its forecast of 1.2 per cent growth for the whole year.
The attacks "significantly impacted" Air France-KLM's receipts, the company said in its monthly traffic update which put lost income at 50 million euros, about 0.2 per cent of annual revenue.
It predicted the effect would have largely worn off by the end of December.
Visits to French news websites boomed in November thanks to the attacks, however.
The top 10 sites scored 700 million hits, double the previous month's performance.
Leading the field were Le Monde newspaper at 147 million, compared to 77 million, and Le Figaro at 111 million, compared to 73 million.
In other French economic news:
- The trade deficit rose by a billion euros in October to 4.6 billion euros, due to a rise in imports, the customs service reported;
- The budget deficit fell from 84.7 billion euros to 76.2 billion euros last year, thanks to a 2.9-billion-euro fall in expenditure and an increase in revenue, largely due to a hike in VAT.
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