The Bank of France has cut its forecast for the French economy.

法国银行降低了今年法国经济发展的预期。

It now expects the economy to contract by 0.1% between April and June this year, having predicted that there would be zero growth less than a month ago.

There was zero growth in the French economy in the first three months of the year, following growth of just 0.1% in the previous quarter.

The cut is the latest sign of the lack of growth in the eurozone, which is struggling with the debt crisis.

Earlier this week, the latest set of official figures confirmed the eurozone economy achieved zero growth in the first three months of 2012.

Declining activity

The cut in the French growth forecast came in the Bank of France's Survey on Industry and Services for May.

It found that: "Industrial activity declined in May, in particular in the automotive and metalworking（金属制造的） sectors²."

In the services sector¹: "activity marked an overall decline, especially in the temporary work, transport and hotel-catering sectors".

On Thursday, official figures showed that French unemployment had hit 10% in the first quarter of 2012.

Weak demand

Latest figures from Germany, which is one of the few eurozone countries registering significant growth, showed that its exports had dropped 1.7% in April compared with the previous month.

The decline followed three consecutive³（连贯的） months of gains.

But exports grew 3.4% compared with the same month last year, led by a 10.3% increase in exports to countries outside the European Union.

Germany's imports fell 4.8% compared with the previous month.

"The recent escalation⁴ of the debt crisis is leaving its mark. Orders are also declining because of weaker global demand," said Juergen Michels from Citigroup.

"Exports are likely to fall further in the months ahead because of this, but we won't see a complete collapse⁵."