France's private sector grew at the fastest pace in almost a year in June, flash survey results from IHS Markit showed on Wednesday.
The composite output index rose marginally to 57.1 in June from 57.0 in May. But the index remained below economists' forecast of 59.0.
Nonetheless, this was the highest score since last July as the easing of lockdown restrictions helped drive the sharpest rise in service sector activity since April 2018.
The services Purchasing Managers' Index advanced to 57.4 from 56.6 a month ago. However, the reading was below the expected level of 59.4.
The manufacturing PMI fell more-than-expected to 58.6 from 59.4 in the previous month. The expected reading was 59.0.
"Strong back-to-back months of output growth are exactly what we expected to see following the peel back of additional lockdown restrictions this month," Joe Hayes, a senior economist at IHS Markit said. "It means the French economy has enjoyed its best quarterly performance since early 2018."
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