Hollande upbeat about French economic perspective despite grim indicators

Despite that a pale quarterly growth clouding economic perspective of France, the eurozone's second largest economy would grow by more than 1 percent this year, French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday.

"For 2015, the results of first and second quarters allow us to say clearly that there will be more that 1 percent of growth," Hollande said.

"It will be an increase in growth but still insufficient to fight against unemployment with efficiency... We have to do more to raise further the growth rate in 2016," he added, during a visit to the eastern town of Isere.

After a surprise growth rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, France saw that economic activities stagnated for the April-June as households expenditure and investment, the economy's growth engines, slowed to 0.1 percent and fell by 0.3 percent, respectively.

With the aim to meet the growth target, France will trim tax to boost growth activities, according to the French president. "With lower tax there will be more consumption and more confidence and then more growth," he said.

Looking to next year's performance, the Socialist leader pledged "tax cuts", stressing the necessity to stimulate "investment useful to the French and useful even to the world, through energy change."

"Growth is there as soon as we use the tools of energy transition," he noted. Enditem