PARIS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The departure of Britain from the European Union would affect the growth in France, even if the divorce scheduled for the end of March were amicable, the national statistics institute Insee said on Tuesday.
It projected that an orderly Brexit would trim French economic activities by 0.3 percent over several quarters.
If the EU and Britain failed to agree on a deal, "the increase in customs duties following this hard Brexit would weigh on the French economy," Insee said, estimating that the impact would be 0.6 percent.
Insee data showed that France was much less affected compared with its neighbours. The growth in Germany, the leading one in the single currency bloc, would suffer a fall between 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent.
In its quarterly economic outlook, Insee also saw limited impact of protests orchestrated by "Yellow Vest" movement in the first half of 2019 as "household confidence is recovering" and "the business climate remains above average."
It maintained its first quarter estimate at 0.4 percent while it revised up that of the second three months by one percentage point to 0.4 percent.
Over the first half of the year, French gross domestic product (GDP) would expand by 1.1 percent, Insee figures showed.
Higher incomes would help consumer spending increase by 0.5 percent in the first quarter as a result of the measures to bolster purchasing power, Insee said.
As to business investment, It saw 0.7 percent growth in the first three months, up from 0.6 percent previously forecast.
