JP/18 /money

French gross domestic product grew by 0.5 percent in the third quarter from the figure for the previous quarter, the French national statistics institute Insee, which had forecast growth of 0.3 percent, said on Friday. However, the institute revised downwards the figure for growth in the second quarter from the first-quarter figure of 2001, from 0.3 percent to 0.2 percent. -- AFP

South Korea's October exports fell 20.1 percent from a year earlier to US$12.18 billion, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said Friday. Imports dropped of 18.3 percent year-on- year to $11.52 billion, down from the $11.57 billion previously announced, the ministry said. The final October trade surplus stood at $657 million. -- AFP

Philippine businesses expect some improvement in the economic outlook for the first three months of calendar 2002, though they expect it to remain weak, the central bank said. Results of a central bank "Business Expectations Survey" conducted last month "point to a still weak but improving business outlook in the first quarter of 2002," the monetary authority said in a statement on Friday.--AFP

The euro zone had a current account deficit of 1.3 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) in September, narrower than the deficit of 3.4 billion euros reported a year earlier, data published by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday showed. The ECB attributed the narrower deficit on a 12-month basis to an increase in the goods surplus, combined with a narrower income deficit.-- AFP

Inflation in Germany, the biggest economy in the 12-country euro zone, appears to have slowed again in November, as food and oil prices continue to fall, data for six key German regional states showed on Friday.Indeed, the regional data could mean that pan- German inflation could fall back below 2.0 percent, which the European Central Bank views as the maximum level of inflation.--AFP

A federation of five French textile industry trade unions denounced Thursday what it described as "exorbitant concessions" made to Pakistan at a World Trade Organization ministerial conference last week. In a letter to European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy the unions said "exorbitant concessions, on the order of 1.5 billion euros (US$1.32 billion) have been announced for Pakistan at a time when EU exports to Pakistan come to just 22 million euros. --AFP