Japanese economy slows down
Tokyo: Japan's economy slowed down in the April-June quarter. Gross domestic product increased 0.8 per cent in annualised terms and 0.2 per cent on a price-adjusted basis compared with the preceding quarter, the Cabinet Office data showed. Though growth in capital spending and consumption remained up a fall in investment in housing and public works and a slowdown in exports depressed the data.

Market forecasts had centred on quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4 per cent, or an annualised 1.8 per cent. While the pace of annualised growth slowed compared with a 2.7 per cent expansion in the first three months of the year, it was the sixth straight quarter of expansion.
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French economy zips ahead
Paris: The French economy zipped ahead in the second quarter of the current fiscal, to grow at its fastest pace since 2000 a government report said. The gross domestic product of the country rose by 1.1-1.2 per cent in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year, the strongest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2000. The government is now revising upwards its growth forecasts to 2.2-2.3 per cent for the year.

Recently the European Central Bank raised interest rates to 3.0 percent to control inflation that accompanies high growth.
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