French economy expands 0.2% helped by household spending and exports

PARIS, July 30 (Reuters) - The French economy grew by 0.2% in the second quarter from the first, official data showed on Thursday, helped by a recovery in household spending and exports.

France's second-quarter growth came after the euro zone's second-biggest economy contracted by 0.1% in the first quarter, and the figure was in line with a Reuters analyst poll.

Official statistics body INSEE said a rise in exports in the aeronautics sector had contributed to the economic recovery.

France, along with many other European economies, is facing the impact of the Iran war and tariffs from the United States, and in July the government cut its overall growth forecast for the whole of 2026 to 0.7% from 0.9%.

Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the second-quarter growth figures showed the French economy was demonstrating resilience and also provided an element of reassurance in terms of the overall 2026 growth target.

"It gives us some reassurance, in terms of our forecast of 0.7%," Lescure told France Inter radio.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Diana Mandia Alvarez; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Jacqueline Wong and Alexander Smith)