French economic growth will be close to the government's 2.5 per cent target this year and next but the weak dollar and high oil prices are "worrying issues", Finance Minister Mr Herve Gaymard said today.
"We will end 2004 at around 2.4 to 2.5 per cent," Mr Gaymard told BFM radio, adding: "With the dollar and the oil price, we have a number of worrying issues but . . . I am extremely confident that we'll have growth close to 2.5 per cent in 2005."
Earlier this month, Mr Gaymard said the dollar's weak exchange rate against the euro was the "number one risk" to the recovery of the French economy.
The government based its 2005 budget on forecasts for growth of 2.5 per cent this year and next.
Economists say sluggish growth is squeezing tax receipts and jeopardising a government pledge to comply with EU public deficit rules for the first time in four years in 2005.
But Mr Gaymard vowed to stick to the European Union's deficit limit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product next year.