France's GDP growth to expand by 1.2 pct in 2015: Insee

The French economy is set to accelerate by 1.2 percent this year above the government's target of 1 percent mainly due to expected rebound in manufacturing business and growing households expenditure, said official figures released late on Thursday.

After three years of a sluggish economic performance, the statistics institute Insee forecasted a "marked acceleration in GDP driven by manufacturing industry, rebound in energy and market-sector services".

With the domestic business climate improving and all the industrial sectors setting to gain momentum, the country's total manufacturing output would increase by 2 percent after it had reported a tepid rise of 0.3 percent in 2014, the report said.

"In terms of demand, it is mainly the acceleration in household purchasing power and therefore in household consumption that should drive this upturn in growth over the year," it added.

Corporate investment rise would record modest performance at 1 percent this year compared to an average of 4 percent in 2010 and 2011 making hard for France to return to pre-crisis growth.

In its report, the Insee also forecast that the unemployment rate would stabilize by the end of year at 10.4 percent, but "unemployment might even fall if older jobseekers continue to feel discouraged".

"With a growth forecast of more than 1 percent this year, Insee has confirmed that recovery in activity has now clearly taken root in France," Finance Minister Michel Sapin said. Endit