France, holding up well against the energy crisis and social protests

The French economy held up fairly well to the shocks that occurred in 2022. This is also the case for the rest of Europe. A sharp surge in inflation, a sudden rise in interest rates, an energy crisis, growing uncertainty - there was enough in this list to bring down any economy. The trend in activity over the last few months has been stagnation rather than outright contraction. The outlook at the start of 2023 is somewhat similar. On the plus side, energy issues are proving to be...