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French economy grows 0.4% in third quarter

15 November 2011 12:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. The French economy grew by 0.4 percent in the third quarter, higher than a forecast 0.3 percent, thanks to increased household spending, the national statistics institute INSEE said Tuesday, APA reports.

However, INSEE said that gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter had been revised downward and the French economy shrank 0.1 percent during the period, in its first contraction since it emerged from the 2008-09 financial crisis.

On the strength of the third quarter performance, the French economy has already achieved 1.7 percent growth for the year, in line with the government target of 1.75 percent, despite INSEE’s forecast of zero growth for the fourth quarter.

INSEE initially forecast growth for the year of 2.1 percent but reduced expectations to 1.7 percent following the sharp economic downturn amid Europe’s menacing sovereign debt crisis.

The better-than-expected third quarter result came with a boost in household consumption, up 0.3 percent, reversing a slump of 0.8 percent in the second quarter.