French central bank chief Christian Noyer said today he expected France's economy to begin a progressive return to growth after a period of stagnation this year, dismissing predictions of a recession.
"Our feeling is that, after the period of stability seen in the economy in the fourth quarter of 2011 and probably the start of this year, we are expecting a progressive acceleration in activity," Noyer said at a press conference after a meeting of French and German officials.
Predictions of France entering a brief recession this year are "not at all in line with reality," he added.
A number of organisations, including France's own statistics agency, have predicted the country will fall into a brief recession early this year. A recession is defined as at least two consecutive quarters of negative quarter-on-quarter growth.
The Bank of France earlier this month said the economy was flat in the last three months of 2011, with no growth between the third and fourth quarters. The French government is predicting overall growth of 1%in 2012.
