French minister says oil price could cut growth by 0.5 pct

PARIS (AFP) - French Transport minister Gilles de Robien warned that the current high price of oil could strip 0.5 percentage points from France's economic growth.
If the price of oil remained at current high levels, the government might need to revise its 2005 forecast of 2.5 percent gross domestic product growth, he said Friday.
"We can expect, if this increase in oil (prices) lasts, and it does risk doing so, weaker growth than what we had predicted for 2005," de Robien told Europe 1 radio.
"If it carries on like that, the rise in oil (prices) affects growth and we could lose a half point of growth."
On Friday, world oil prices were hovering close to record high points approaching 55 dollars a barrel as traders fretted about low inventories of US heating fuel heading into winter in the northern hemisphere.