French central bank sees second quarter growth of 0.25%

PARIS (Reuters) - France's economy should avoid falling into recession during the current quarter after contracting in the first three months of the year, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The euro zone's second-biggest economy will grow around 0.25% in the three months to the end of June from the first quarter when it shrank 0.2%, the Bank of France said, revising its second quarter estimate marginally higher from 0.2% last month.

"After the first quarter pullback, activity in the second quarter will show resilience, which is to say that clearly the French economy won't be in recession," Bank of France chief economist Olivier Garnier told a news briefing.

The central bank based its growth estimate in part on the findings of its monthly survey of 8,500 firms in which executives reported that business was expected to improve slightly in June in the services sector, be stable in industry and decline sightly in construction.

The share of industrial firms experiencing supply chain difficulties eased in May to 61% from 64% in April while nudged up in the construction sector to 55% from 54%.

With industrial firms seeing less pressure on obtaining inputs, 42% of executives in the sector reported raising sales prices in May, down marginally from 41% in April and was largely stable in services at 24%.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Alison Williams)