Recurring heatwaves expected to drag down France's economic growth: central bank governor

Recurring heatwaves are expected to drag down France's economic growth, Emmanuel Moulin, the new governor of the Bank of France, said on Saturday.

Moulin said that the short-term impact of high temperatures on the economy is difficult to assess, and in the medium-term, however, extreme heat can easily trigger disasters such as fires and floods, which would negatively affect bank assets, insurance operations, and others, thereby weighing on economic growth. According to a bulletin from Meteo-France on Saturday, a total of 61 departments across the country issued the orange alert for high temperatures on Wednesday, with the highest temperature in the southwest and northeast expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu activated an interministerial emergency response mechanism on the same day to address the ongoing heatwave.

China's railway is expected to handle 17.94 million passenger trips on Sunday, the last day of the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

To meet the return travel demand, railway authorities across the country have increased 1,355 additional passenger trains on routes and sections with high passenger volumes based on big data.

Railway departments in many regions have also added nighttime high-speed trains.

"We have added 61 pairs of trains on routes including Chengdu-Chongqing, Chengdu-Guiyang, Chengdu-Xi'an, and Chengdu-Kunming. Meanwhile, we have also adopted the measure of coupling multiple electric multiple units (EMUs) to increase transport capacity so as to meet passengers' return travel needs to the greatest extent possible," said Zhou Yan, passenger service duty manager at Chengdu Railway Station of the Chengdu Bureau under China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

To manage the peak return travel volume, railway authorities have implemented measures such as opening stations earlier, activating all entry and exit gates, and deploying additional staff to guide passengers to ensure a smooth return journey.

During the operation of nighttime high-speed trains, some stations will remain open overnight to ensure an adequate supply of food and hot water for passengers, and railway authorities are also actively coordinating with local transportation departments to extend the operating hours of subways and buses.

Regarding road traffic, traffic volume heading into major and medium-sized cities is expected to gradually increase starting at 16:00 Sunday, which may lead to congestion.