France’s GDP stalls in Q1 2026 as foreign trade drags

The stagnation came as final domestic demand excluding inventories remained sluggish. Household consumption edged down 0.1 percent in the first three months of the year, a reversal from the 0.4 percent growth seen in the fourth quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, gross fixed capital formation also fell back by 0.4 percent.

Foreign trade exerted a strong negative contribution to GDP growth in the first quarter, subtracting 0.7 percentage point after adding 0.6 point in the previous quarter. This downturn was driven by a sharp 3.8 percent drop in exports, while imports also continued to decline, falling 1.7 percent.

In contrast, changes in inventories provided a strong positive contribution of 0.8 percentage point, rebounding from a negative 0.7 percentage point in the fourth quarter of 2025. The INSEE said the inventory build was driven mainly by aerospace products.

Total production of goods and services remained sluggish in the first quarter, rising by 0.1 percent after a 0.2 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2025.