French economic growth was weaker than expected in the first quarter of 2007, but economists said a new calculation method could partly explain the disappointment.
National statistics office INSEE said GDP in the January-March period rose 0.5 per cent, less than a forecast of 0.7 per cent by economists polled by Reuters.
INSEE also revised the fourth-quarter growth figure downwards to 0.5 per cent from 0.7 per cent previously reported.
INSEE said consumer spending rose 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, while business investment increased 1.4 per cent, a slowdown from its 1.8 per cent gain in the final quarter of last year.
Economists said new methodology, in which INSEE based its calculations on the previous year's prices rather than on the 2000 base year, had led to a strong downward revision in the consumer spending figures.
"The fact that it's lower than the consensus (forecast) is not a sign that growth is not picking up," said David Naude, economist at Deutsche Bank. "We still believe that this is consistent with an ongoing recovery in the economy."
The growth data is slightly downbeat news for incoming conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy a day before he takes office. But economists said the overall business climate was favourable in France and elsewhere in Europe.
INSEE also confirmed today that France's public deficit was 2.5 per cent of GDP last year, below the European Union's ceiling of 3.0 per cent. Public debt stood at 63.7 per cent of GDP at the end of 2006.