French Economic Recovery Restrained by Extended Restrictions

France’s central bank cut its growth forecasts for this year and next, as longer-lasting restrictions to contain the pandemic put the euro area’s second-largest economy on a slower recovery path.

A second nationwide lockdown in November and the prolongation of some measures, including restaurant closures, mean economic output will only return to pre-crisis levels in mid-2022, the Bank of France said. In September, it forecast a return to that baseline about six months earlier.