PARIS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The French economy is expected to grow at a rate of 0.3 percent in the second quarter of the year, unchanged from a quarter earlier, France's central bank, Banque de France (BdF), forecast Monday.
Based on business leaders' appreciation, the bank's monthly report showed that slowing industrial activities in April as the automobile, rubber and plastic sectors lost ground, offset buoyant pharmaceutical and electronic equipment activities.
The BdF added that the capacity utilization was stable at 79.6 percent over the period.
Looking to this month's performance, business leaders anticipated an increase in industrial output.
As to the service industry, the sector improved moderately in April and was expected to grow further in the short term.
April's business sentiment indicator in industry was at 99, down by one point from March, while the indicator in services also dipped to 100 points from 101 in March.
The BdF has set France's 2019 growth at 1.5 percent, below the government's target of 1.7 percent.
