flagging economy

長引く債務危機の影響で第3・四半期のユーロ圏域内総生産伸び率が前期に続きマイナスとなったようです。フランスはドイツ同様0.2%のプラス成長をしたものの，第4・四半期にはマイナスになるのではないかとも言われています。以下のflaggingは「垂れ下がる（dropping），衰えぎみの（weakening）」という意味の言葉です（『新英和中辞典』初版，旺文社）。flagging economyで「低迷する経済，景気後退」などを意味します。（GP）

(Financial Times) -- France's socialist government seized on better than expected economic growth figures to reject concern that France could become the next focus of the eurozone crisis, insisting it is acting to reform the flagging economy.
"France is not the sick man of Europe. France remains the world's fifth largest economic power that has all its resources but which needs to recover its competitiveness," Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister told the FT.
Recent forecasts of weak French economic performance from the EU and the International Monetary Fund have fuelled fears that the country could exacerbate the eurozone recession if President François Hollande's six-month-old government does not enact structural reforms similar to those underway in Italy and Spain.
The German government has barely hidden its suspicion that Mr Hollande is not doing enough to address its competitiveness problems and concerns are mounting among European policy makers that the financial markets could turn against France.
The French government was boosted on Thursday by official figures showing its economy had eked out growth of 0.2 per cent in the third quarter, against expectations of flat or negative growth.