Israel, Hamas poised for third hostage-prisoner exchange

Israel and Hamas were set to carry out their third hostage-prisoner exchange on Thursday, with three Israelis and five Thai captives slated for release as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.A fourth exchange is scheduled for the weekend, but Hamas accused Israel on Wednesday of jeopardising the deal by holding up aid deliveries, an allegation Israel dismissed as “fake news”.The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the three Israelis to be released on Thursday as Arbel Yehud, Agam Berger and Gadi Moses, adding that five Thais held in Gaza would also be freed.Ahead of the release, which sources in Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad said would take place at Jabalia refugee camp and Khan Yunis at around 0900 GMT, Islamic jihad aired video footage of Moses and Yehud hugging each other and smiling.On Wednesday, a Moses family statement said it had “received with great excitement the wonderful news of our beloved Gadi’s return”.The ceasefire that began on January 19 hinges on the release of Israeli hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, in exchange for 1,900 people — mostly Palestinians — in Israeli custody.Hamas has so far released seven hostages, with 290 prisoners freed in exchange. Israel is to release 110 prisoners, including 30 minors, in exchange for the three Israelis, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said.The next swap on Saturday will see three Israeli men released, according to Netanyahu’s office.- Aid trucks row -The truce deal has allowed truckloads of aid into the devastated Gaza Strip, where the war has created a long-running humanitarian crisis.But two senior Hamas officials accused Israel of slowing aid deliveries, with one citing key items such as fuel, tents, heavy machinery and other equipment.”According to the agreement, these materials were supposed to enter during the first week of the ceasefire,” one official said.”We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange.”Israel hit back, with a spokesman for COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, calling it “totally fake news”.Between Sunday and 1100 GMT on Wednesday, “3,000 trucks entered Gaza”, the spokesman said. “The agreement says it should be 4,200 in seven days,” he added.As the text of the agreement — mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States — has not been made public, AFP was not able to verify its terms on aid.Both Hamas officials said representatives of the group had raised the issue during a meeting with Egyptian officials on Wednesday.- Displacement ‘injustice’ -The ceasefire deal is currently in its first, 42-day phase, which should see 33 hostages freed.Next, the parties are due to start discussing a long-term end to the war. The third and final phase of the deal should see the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of any remaining dead hostages.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for sealing the agreement despite it taking effect just ahead of his inauguration, and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who took part in the talks, met Netanyahu in Israel on Wednesday.Trump has invited Netanyahu to the White House on February 4, according to the premier’s office.After the truce took effect, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” Gaza, calling for Palestinians to relocate to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan.The idea has faced strong backlash from both countries, and from European governments.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Wednesday the forced displacement of Palestinians was an “injustice that we cannot take part in”.Jordan’s King Abdullah II stressed “the need to keep the Palestinians on their land and to guarantee their legitimate rights, in accordance with the Israeli and Palestinian two-state solution”.More than 376,000 displaced Palestinians have gone back to northern Gaza since Israel reopened access earlier this week, according to the UN humanitarian office OCHA, with many returning to little more than rubble.”My house is destroyed,” 33-year-old Mohammed Al-Faleh told AFP. “This morning, we built a small room with two walls made from the remains of our home. There is no cement, so I used mud.”The biggest problem is that there is no water — all the water wells are destroyed,” he added.”Food aid is reaching Gaza… but there is no gas or electricity. We bake bread on a fire fuelled by wood and nylon.”

Plane carrying 64 collides with helicopter, crashes in Washington

A US passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter on a night training exercise, prompting a desperate search for survivors in the dark, near-freezing water.The plane was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.American Airlines, whose subsidiary PSA Airlines operated the Bombardier regional jet, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown. They had been on a “training flight,” a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time.”However, a massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.”We’re going to be out there as long as it takes, and we’re obviously trying to get to people as soon as possible, but we are going to recover our fellow citizens,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.”We will re-evaluate where we are with the rescue operation in the morning, when we get a better sense of it,” Donnelly said.”But we are still out there working, and we’re going to continue that throughout the night.”Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed” and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” But less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he returned to social media to critique air traffic control.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday.American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow”, while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -Questions were expected to focus on how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan airport and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.Investigators concluded the pilot had failed to activate sufficient de-icing procedures.The last major fatal US air accident was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people aboard.

Un avion avec 64 personnes et un hélicoptère s’écrasent dans un fleuve à Washington

Un avion d’American Airlines avec 64 personnes à bord et un hélicoptère militaire se sont écrasés mercredi soir dans le fleuve Potomac après une collision au-dessus de Washington, déclenchant une opération de recherches “extrêmement difficiles”.Dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, plusieurs heures après la pire catastrophe aérienne aux Etats-Unis depuis plus d’une décennie, les autorités n’ont fourni aucun bilan humain.Dans un message sur sa plateforme Truth Social, Donald Trump a jugé que l’accident sans précédent à Washington “aurait dû être évité”, si l’hélicoptère avait manœuvré, sous la direction des contrôleurs aériens, pour ne pas se trouver dans la “trajectoire d’approche parfaite” de l’avion.La capitale fédérale est sans cesse survolée par des avions et hélicoptères à très basse altitude, avec son aéroport Ronald-Reagan au bord du Potomac, fleuve qui sépare la ville de l’Etat de Virginie à l’est.- “Profond chagrin” -“Les deux appareils sont dans l’eau”, a dit lors d’une conférence de presse depuis l’aéroport la maire de Washington Muriel Bowser.Transportant 60 passagers et quatre membres d’équipage, l’avion appartient à la compagnie PSA, une filiale régionale d’American Airlines.Son patron, Robert Isom, a exprimé dans une vidéo son “profond chagrin”.La police de Washington a souligné qu’il n’y avait “à ce stade aucune information confirmée sur des victimes”.Une très vaste opération de recherche et de secours avec policiers, pompiers, et gardes-côtes est en cours sur les lieux de l’accident, dans les eaux glaciales et boueuses du Potomac, par une nuit noire.”Les conditions sont extrêmement difficiles” pour les secouristes, dont des plongeurs, a reconnu John Donnelly, chef des pompiers de la ville.Il a évoqué le “froid”, un “vent fort” et de “la glace” sur le Potomac, les températures ayant chuté fin janvier jusqu’à -12°C.Le Washington Post a évoqué plusieurs personnes sorties de l’eau sans que l’on sache si elles étaient vivantes ou décédées.Depuis l’accident, des hélicoptères survolent le fleuve, balayant les eaux avec des faisceaux lumineux. Autour de l’aéroport, des dizaines de gyrophares sont visibles depuis les rives du Potomac, à Washington et en Virginie, selon des journalistes de l’AFP.On voit aussi dans la nuit des dizaines de camions de pompiers dont certains avec des remorques tirant des canots pneumatiques à proximité de l’aéroport, dont les pistes sont au bord du fleuve.- “Lumière jaune très brillante” -Un témoin cité par CNN, Ari Schulman, a déclaré qu’il “pens(ait) avoir vu la collision”, avec une “lumière jaune très brillante” — ressemblant au flash d’une explosion — lorsqu’il roulait en voiture sur une voie rapide qui sillonne le long du Potomac, entre Washington et la Virginie.Le régulateur américain de l’aviation (FAA) a donné les premiers éléments sur les deux appareils impliqués dans l’accident: un avion du constructeur Bombardier exploité par PSA “entré en collision à altitude moyenne” avec un hélicoptère Sikorsky H-60 au moment de l’approche pour atterrir à l’aéroport Ronald-Reagan.L’avion venait de Wichita, au Kansas, et devait atterrir à Washington à 21H00 (02H00 GMT jeudi). Un responsable du Pentagone a précisé que trois militaires étaient à bord de l’hélicoptère et une porte-parole de l’armée a confirmé que l’appareil effectuait “un vol d’entraînement”, selon un message relayé sur les réseaux sociaux par le nouveau ministre de la Défense Pete Hegseth.Evoquant un “incident aérien” sur son compte X, l’aéroport Ronald-Reagan a annoncé avoir “suspendu” tous les décollages et atterrissages jusqu’au moins jeudi matin.Tout près de l’accident de mercredi soir, un Boeing 737-222 d’Air Florida avait percuté un pont enjambant le Potomac pendant une tempête de neige et s’y était abîmé, le 13 janvier 1982. L’accident avait fait 78 morts, dont quatre automobilistes qui se trouvaient sur le pont.burs-nr/ph

Un avion avec 64 personnes et un hélicoptère s’écrasent dans un fleuve à Washington

Un avion d’American Airlines avec 64 personnes à bord et un hélicoptère militaire se sont écrasés mercredi soir dans le fleuve Potomac après une collision au-dessus de Washington, déclenchant une opération de recherches “extrêmement difficiles”.Dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, plusieurs heures après la pire catastrophe aérienne aux Etats-Unis depuis plus d’une décennie, les autorités n’ont fourni aucun bilan humain.Dans un message sur sa plateforme Truth Social, Donald Trump a jugé que l’accident sans précédent à Washington “aurait dû être évité”, si l’hélicoptère avait manœuvré, sous la direction des contrôleurs aériens, pour ne pas se trouver dans la “trajectoire d’approche parfaite” de l’avion.La capitale fédérale est sans cesse survolée par des avions et hélicoptères à très basse altitude, avec son aéroport Ronald-Reagan au bord du Potomac, fleuve qui sépare la ville de l’Etat de Virginie à l’est.- “Profond chagrin” -“Les deux appareils sont dans l’eau”, a dit lors d’une conférence de presse depuis l’aéroport la maire de Washington Muriel Bowser.Transportant 60 passagers et quatre membres d’équipage, l’avion appartient à la compagnie PSA, une filiale régionale d’American Airlines.Son patron, Robert Isom, a exprimé dans une vidéo son “profond chagrin”.La police de Washington a souligné qu’il n’y avait “à ce stade aucune information confirmée sur des victimes”.Une très vaste opération de recherche et de secours avec policiers, pompiers, et gardes-côtes est en cours sur les lieux de l’accident, dans les eaux glaciales et boueuses du Potomac, par une nuit noire.”Les conditions sont extrêmement difficiles” pour les secouristes, dont des plongeurs, a reconnu John Donnelly, chef des pompiers de la ville.Il a évoqué le “froid”, un “vent fort” et de “la glace” sur le Potomac, les températures ayant chuté fin janvier jusqu’à -12°C.Le Washington Post a évoqué plusieurs personnes sorties de l’eau sans que l’on sache si elles étaient vivantes ou décédées.Depuis l’accident, des hélicoptères survolent le fleuve, balayant les eaux avec des faisceaux lumineux. Autour de l’aéroport, des dizaines de gyrophares sont visibles depuis les rives du Potomac, à Washington et en Virginie, selon des journalistes de l’AFP.On voit aussi dans la nuit des dizaines de camions de pompiers dont certains avec des remorques tirant des canots pneumatiques à proximité de l’aéroport, dont les pistes sont au bord du fleuve.- “Lumière jaune très brillante” -Un témoin cité par CNN, Ari Schulman, a déclaré qu’il “pens(ait) avoir vu la collision”, avec une “lumière jaune très brillante” — ressemblant au flash d’une explosion — lorsqu’il roulait en voiture sur une voie rapide qui sillonne le long du Potomac, entre Washington et la Virginie.Le régulateur américain de l’aviation (FAA) a donné les premiers éléments sur les deux appareils impliqués dans l’accident: un avion du constructeur Bombardier exploité par PSA “entré en collision à altitude moyenne” avec un hélicoptère Sikorsky H-60 au moment de l’approche pour atterrir à l’aéroport Ronald-Reagan.L’avion venait de Wichita, au Kansas, et devait atterrir à Washington à 21H00 (02H00 GMT jeudi). Un responsable du Pentagone a précisé que trois militaires étaient à bord de l’hélicoptère et une porte-parole de l’armée a confirmé que l’appareil effectuait “un vol d’entraînement”, selon un message relayé sur les réseaux sociaux par le nouveau ministre de la Défense Pete Hegseth.Evoquant un “incident aérien” sur son compte X, l’aéroport Ronald-Reagan a annoncé avoir “suspendu” tous les décollages et atterrissages jusqu’au moins jeudi matin.Tout près de l’accident de mercredi soir, un Boeing 737-222 d’Air Florida avait percuté un pont enjambant le Potomac pendant une tempête de neige et s’y était abîmé, le 13 janvier 1982. L’accident avait fait 78 morts, dont quatre automobilistes qui se trouvaient sur le pont.burs-nr/ph

UNRWA, a lifeline for Palestinians amid decades of conflict

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has vowed to ban on Thursday, is seen by some as an irreplaceable humanitarian lifeline in Gaza, and as an accomplice of Hamas by others.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has for more than seven decades provided essential aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has described the organisation as “a lifeline” for nearly six million Palestinian refugees under its charge.But the agency has long been a lightning rod for harsh Israeli criticism, which ramped up dramatically after Hamas’s deadly attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war in Gaza.Israel has accused the agency of bias and of being “riddled with Hamas operatives”, and last October, Israeli lawmakers voted to bar the agency from operating on Israeli territory as of January 30.  – Created in wake of war -UNRWA was established in December 1949 by the UN General Assembly following the first Arab-Israeli conflict after Israel’s creation in May 1948.The agency began its operations on May 1, 1950, tasked with assisting some 750,000 Palestinians who had been expelled or fled during the war.It was supposed to be a short-term fix, but in the absence of a lasting solution for the refugees, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, most recently extending it until June 30, 2026.- Millions of refugees -The number of people under its charge has ballooned to nearly six million across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.Palestinian refugees are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict”. Their descendents also have refugee status.- Operations -UNRWA is the main provider of basic public services, including education, healthcare, and social services for registered Palestinian refugees. It employs more than 30,000, mainly Palestinian refugees themselves and a small number of international staff.The organisation counts 58 official refugee camps and runs more than 700 schools for over 540,000 students.It also runs 141 primary healthcare facilities, with nearly seven million patient visits each year, and provides emergency food and cash assistance to some 1.8 million people.- Gaza -In the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas since 2007, the humanitarian situation was already critical before the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023, with more than 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The territory, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, counts eight camps and around 1.7 million refugees, the overwhelming majority of its 2.4 million inhabitants, according to the UN.Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 47,300 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.Before a fragile ceasefire took effect on January 19, around two-thirds of all buildings in Gaza had been destroyed, and nearly the entire population had been displaced, many of them multiple times, according to the UN.UNRWA, which employs some 13,000 in Gaza, has seen 273 of its staff killed and two-thirds of its facilities there damaged or destroyed.The agency says it had brought in 60 percent of the food that has reached Gaza since the war began and had provided shelter to over a million displaced people.- Israeli criticism -Israel has long alleged that UNRWA is perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem and that its schools use textbooks that promote hatred of Israel.Since October 7, the criticism has ballooned, particularly targeting UNRWA in Gaza.Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly 2023 attack.A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, but found no evidence for Israel’s chief allegations.The agency, which traditionally has been funded almost exclusively through voluntary contributions from governments, was plunged into crisis as a string of nations halted their backing over Israel’s allegations.Most donors have since resumed funding, although not the United States.Under US President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this month, the United States has thrown its weight behind Israel’s UNRWA ban.Both Israel and the US insist other agencies can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction — something the UN and many donor governments dispute.Warning that implementation of the Israeli order would be “disastrous”, Lazzarini said this week that the agency was determined “to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so”.UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile demanded that Israel retract its order, insisting that UNRWA was “irreplaceable”.

Asian markets diverge in thin trade, with AI impact in focus

Asian equities were mixed in another holiday-thinned trading day Thursday, with investors digesting broadly positive tech earnings that came days after the upheaval caused by China’s DeepSeek explosion onto the global AI scene.With most markets closed for the Lunar New Year break, there was little major reaction to the Federal Reserve’s widely expected pause in interest rate cuts and indications that no more were in the pipeline.The tepid performance in Asia followed a retreat among Wall Street main indexes but the volatility that greeted the start of the week has gone for now, though worries about the valuations of some top tech firms continue to weigh on sentiment.Trading floors were jolted Monday after DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that apparently matched the capacity of US artificial intelligence pacesetters for a fraction of the investments made by American companies.Firms that have most benefited from a long-running scramble for all things AI took a heavy hit, with chip titan Nvidia the standout victim — losing almost $600 billion in market capitalisation, while other major firms and chipmakers also felt the pain.While some of the losses have since been recovered and leading lights in the industry talk up the benefits of the competition, there are fears about the hundreds of billions sunk into projects aimed at getting a lead in AI.”The AI sector is still feeling the heat with bears circling, ready to pounce on any signs of weakness,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”The scepticism around tech valuations, already a popular spiel before Monday’s wipeout, has only intensified.”The argument that tech stocks are perilously overpriced now resonates even more on trading floors, fuelling a bearish outlook and gaining followers by the minute.”The DeepSeek news provided an extra facet to the current earnings season, with focus on how US tech giants will react.Wednesday saw a broadly upbeat readout, with Facebook-parent Meta, IBM and Tesla posting healthy earnings, though Microsoft disappointed. Apple is due to report Thursday.After the negative lead from New York, Asian markets diverged.Tokyo, Sydney and Mumbai rose while Wellington, Manila and Jakarta slipped.The Fed’s decision to stand pat on rates made little difference, though analysts noted its statement said inflation “remains somewhat elevated”, removing a reference in earlier statements to inflation making progress towards officials’ long-term target of two percent.After the announcement, boss Jerome Powell said: “With our policy stance significantly less restrictive than it had been, and the economy remaining strong, we do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance.”Donald Trump — who last week revived his criticism of the central bank and Powell and called for rates to “drop immediately” — hit out at policymakers accusing them on his Truth Social account of failing “to stop the problem they created with Inflation”.Powell said it was “not appropriate” for him to respond to the comments, adding that decision-makers would “wait and see” how Trump’s plans to impose tariffs, and cut taxes, regulations and immigration would affect the economy.While the Fed held, the European Central Bank is expected to press on with interest rate cuts Thursday as officials grow confident that the fight against inflation is on track.- Key figures around 0645 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 39,513.97 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0414 from $1.0425 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2437 from $1.2444Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.52 yen from 155.15 yen Euro/pound: UP at 83.73 pence from 83.68 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $72.68 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $76.57 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 44,713.52 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,557.81 (close)

France: le PIB a reculé de 0,1% au 4e trimestre mais progressé de 1,1% en 2024 (Insee)

Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) de la France s’est contracté de 0,1% au quatrième trimestre, subissant le contrecoup des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques de Paris, a indiqué jeudi l’Insee, mais il a progressé de 1,1% en 2024, conformément à sa prévision. Entre octobre et décembre, période marquée par la chute du gouvernement Barnier, la croissance économique a été pénalisée par le ralentissement de la consommation des ménages (+0,4% après +0,6%), notamment en services, alors que celle-ci avait soutenu la hausse de 0,4% du PIB observée au troisième trimestre. Les investissements ont reculé de 0,1%, moins fortement que durant l’été (-0,3%): ceux des entreprises sont restés stables tandis que du côté des ménages, ils ont reculé de -0,3% (après -0,7%). Au total, la demande intérieure finale (hors stocks) a progressé de 0,3 point (après +0,4) au quatrième trimestre. La contribution du commerce extérieur a été négative (-0,2 point après -0,1 au troisième trimestre), les importations ayant rebondi face à des exportations en baisse. Sur l’ensemble de 2024, la croissance économique française a atteint 1,1%, comme l’avaient prévu l’Insee et le gouvernement. Elle a été tirée par le commerce extérieur (+0,9 point après 0,6) tandis que la demande intérieur finale a ralenti (+0,7 point après 0,9). Pour 2025, le gouvernement du Premier ministre François Bayrou a abaissé sa prévision de croissance de 1,1% à 0,9%. De son côté, l’Insee table sur une hausse de 0,2% du PIB aux premier et deuxième trimestres, horizon de ses prévisions. 

France: le PIB a reculé de 0,1% au 4e trimestre mais progressé de 1,1% en 2024 (Insee)

Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) de la France s’est contracté de 0,1% au quatrième trimestre, subissant le contrecoup des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques de Paris, a indiqué jeudi l’Insee, mais il a progressé de 1,1% en 2024, conformément à sa prévision. Entre octobre et décembre, période marquée par la chute du gouvernement Barnier, la croissance économique a été pénalisée par le ralentissement de la consommation des ménages (+0,4% après +0,6%), notamment en services, alors que celle-ci avait soutenu la hausse de 0,4% du PIB observée au troisième trimestre. Les investissements ont reculé de 0,1%, moins fortement que durant l’été (-0,3%): ceux des entreprises sont restés stables tandis que du côté des ménages, ils ont reculé de -0,3% (après -0,7%). Au total, la demande intérieure finale (hors stocks) a progressé de 0,3 point (après +0,4) au quatrième trimestre. La contribution du commerce extérieur a été négative (-0,2 point après -0,1 au troisième trimestre), les importations ayant rebondi face à des exportations en baisse. Sur l’ensemble de 2024, la croissance économique française a atteint 1,1%, comme l’avaient prévu l’Insee et le gouvernement. Elle a été tirée par le commerce extérieur (+0,9 point après 0,6) tandis que la demande intérieur finale a ralenti (+0,7 point après 0,9). Pour 2025, le gouvernement du Premier ministre François Bayrou a abaissé sa prévision de croissance de 1,1% à 0,9%. De son côté, l’Insee table sur une hausse de 0,2% du PIB aux premier et deuxième trimestres, horizon de ses prévisions.