FILE PHOTO: Governor of the Bank of France Francois Villeroy de Galhau speaks during a news conference at the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Chantilly, near Paris, France, July 18, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) – France could return to pre-COVID normal economic growth levels by the middle of 2022, Bank of France governor and European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Tuesday.

“We will gradually climb back to the altitude we had prior to COVID,” Villeroy told France Culture radio.

The French central bank said on Monday it did not anticipate a significant revision of its 2021 growth forecast of 5.5% if the new COVID-19 restrictions do not extend beyond April.

Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Matthieu Protard, editing by Ed Osmond

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