French growth more than halved in the last three months of 2007, yielding full year growth that was just below the government's official forecast, data showed today.
The first estimate of fourth-quarter GDP showed the euro zone's second biggest economy grew at a quarterly rate of 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter and by 1.9 per cent in 2007, national statistics office INSEE said.
The annual growth rate compared with the 2.2 per cent seen in 2006 and the government's official forecast of 2.0-2.5 per cent.
The French data came shortly after a report showed German growth also more than halved in the fourth quarter. These indicators gave markets an early sign of what to expect from euro zone GDP data which will be released later today.