The French economy experienced 1.4 percent growth in 2005, including a 0.4 percent performance in the last quarter, compared with the previously estimated 0.2 percent, official data said on Friday.

The data, published by the INSEE statistics institute, attributed the slow growth in the last quarter to the poor performance in foreign trade.

In the fourth quarter, household consumption grew by 0.6 percent and investment by non-financial companies rose by 1.2 percent after a 1.5 percent showing in the previous quarter.

Exports had risen by 1.0 percent compared with 2.9 percent growth in the third quarter and imports had risen by 2.3 percent following a 2.6 percent rise in the previous quarter.

INSEE also said that the French public deficit in 2005 declined to 2.9 percent of output, compared with 3.7 percent in 2004, which exceeded the eurozone limit of 3.0 percent.

The debt of the country increased to 66.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 64.4 percent in 2004, the data added.

The French government has prioritized the reduction of deficit and debt, as the European Commission has strongly criticized Paris for overspending.

The French public deficit, including the central government budget, social security budgets and local authority spending, totaled 48.9 billion euros (58.7 billion U.S. dollars).

Source: Xinhua