French economy to recover from pandemic by mid-2022, central bank says

The head of France's central bank has said he expects the French economy to recover from the pandemic slump by the middle of 2022. The bank is expecting the economy to grow by 5.5 percent this year, after a slump of more than 8 percent in 2020. The April lockdown is also having a limited effect on economic activity, according to the bank's latest report. Meanwhile, French industry is suffering from shortages of key materials such as semiconductor chips, wood and metals, which may cause consumer prices to rise.