The French economy expanded as estimated initially in the fourth quarter, the statistical office Insee said Wednesday.
The gross domestic product rose 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, following a 0.3 percent increase in the third quarter.
Over the year, GDP increased 1.7 percent after 1.4 percent growth in 2010. All the figures matched the preliminary calculations.
Investment growth accelerated to 1.1 percent from 0.2 percent in the third quarter. Growth in households' consumption expenditure slightly decelerated to 0.2 percent from 0.3 percent in the third quarter.
Overall, total domestic demand, excluding inventory changes, drove GDP on for 0.4 percentage point of growth after adding 0.3 percentage point in the third quarter.
Exports grew 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, while imports dropped 1 percent. Hence, foreign trade balance contributed 0.6 percentage point to GDP growth.
Negative contribution came from changes in inventories, which deducted 0.8 percentage point from the overall output.
The French government last week upgraded growth forecast for the economy to 0.7 percent this year. In 2013, the economy may expand 1.75 percent, according to the Finance Ministry.
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