French GDP growth slows to 0.3 pct in Q1

PARIS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Growth of France, the eurozone second largest economy, went up by 0.3 percent, during the first three months of the year, compared to a 0.7 percent rise reported in the last quarter of 2017, the national statistics bureau, Insee, announced Friday.

Insee lowered an initial quarterly forecast of 0.5 percent, mainly due to negative performance of manufacturing activities, decelerating investment and wane consumers spending, the country's key growth engines.

France's output in manufactured goods declined by 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter, following significant decrease in transport equipment, Insee's figures showed.

Household consumption remained sluggish while investment growth decelerated to 0.6 percent after hitting 1.1 percent in the last quarter of 2017.

French government aims to achieve 2 percent economic growth in 2018. Enditem