france’s economy grew significantly faster than estimated in the second quarter providing a positive surprise as recession fears swirl in the 20nation euro area boosted by a surge in exports gross domestic product in the currency bloc’s secondlargest member rose 05 between april and june having increased by 01 in the first three months of the year the insee statistics agency said friday economists surveyed by bloomberg had estimated expansion of 01 the figures offer some cheer after european central bank president christine lagarde on thursday painted a worsening picture for the euro region in the coming months germany the continent’s biggest economy is already battling to exit a recession while privatesector activity in the bloc as a whole points to a contraction in july in france while exports were stoked by the delivery of a cruise ship consumer spending fell 04 and investment advanced by just 01 “the nearterm economic outlook for the euro area has deteriorated owing largely to weaker domestic demand” lagarde said after interest rates were lifted for the ninth time since last july “over time falling inflation rising incomes and improving supply conditions should support the recovery” the barrage of rate hikes however has boosted loan costs for french households and firms while consumerprice growth remains well above the ecb’s 2 target inflation data due later friday are expected to show a small slowdown in france in july to 51 the 20nation euro region will publish its reading alongside gdp on monday as food inflation surges french consumers have sought to cut costs with sales of ownbrand goods at carrefour sa rising twice as fast as national brands “we are still in this inflationary environment with trading down with pressure on volume with accelerations on private label and all the new behaviors of the customer we have observed for one year” chief executive officer alexandre bompard said wednesday in a presentation of carrefour’s latest financial results a separate publication showed french consumer spending had begun to rebound by the end of the quarter with a 09 increase in june as food purchases partially recovered