PARIS (AFP) - French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin insisted this weekend his country would achieve growth of 2.5 percent next year despite reports of flagging economic momentum in recent months.
Raffarin said in an interview to be published Sunday growth this year would be markedly higher than the budget forecast of 1.7 percent.
And of next year he predicted:
"I firmly stick to our forecast of 2.5 percent growth and lowering of unemployment."
Growth had already reached two percent by the end of September, and in 2005 "will be perceptibly stronger than the average pace we have experienced since 2002," he told the newspaper Progres de Lyon.
"I insist, the worst is behind us."
His remarks came as prospects for a vibrant eurozone economic recovery seemed in trouble as France joined Germany in reporting flagging momentum and the EU commission trimmed its growth forecast.
French gross domestic product grew by just 0.1 percent in the third quarter from the second, well below an estimation of 0.5 percent, according to figures released Friday by the national statistics institute INSEE.
For France the third quarter performance was its worst in a year while in the Germany the growth pace was the slowest since second quarter 2003.
"I`m not surprised by the third quarter results because several indicators had already shown that July and August were lagging months," Raffarin said:
But he went on: "I now have very positive indicators. For example, industrial production increased by 3.2 percent in September, its biggest rise since April 1997."
Raffarin also predicted a drop in French unemployment by 10 percent next year. France had been in a process of stabilising unemployment for the past year and had now entered a periof of reduction.
11/13/2004 - 20:54 GMT - AFP