PARIS — France has avoided the property crash that has hit Spain, it has not suffered as much as export champion Germany and its consumers have not been crippled by the kind of debt that has tied British shoppers down.
But the very qualities that have shielded France from the worst of the crisis are likely to mean it will take longer to pick up once recovery sets in, underscoring the need for President Nicolas Sarkozy to push through structural reforms aimed at making the economy more dynamic.
“The French economy and, above all, the French consumer appear to be relatively resilient in the presence of shocks,” said Elga Bartsch, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley.
