EU sees further slowdown in French economy

BRUSSELS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- After a slowdown from 2.2 percent in 2017 to 1.6 percent in 2018, the French economy will weaken further to 1.3 percent in 2019, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

Paris has been plagued by unrests on its streets in weekends for months, and European Economic Forecast published by the EU's executive arm said temporary factors such as social protests negatively affected domestic demand in 2018,.

Exports are set to slow down somewhat in 2019, as external demand growth would lose momentum, weighing on the economy, according to the forecast.

The unemployment rate of France will likely fall from 9.1 percent in 2018 to 8.8 percent in 2019, said the forecast.