Consumers powered the French economy to surprisingly strong growth in the second quarter, a rate that matched the fastest expansion in almost four years and outpaced the United States on an annualised basis.
The preliminary so-called "flash estimate" of gross domestic product (GDP) growth from the statistics office INSEE came in on Thursday at 0.8 percent, equalling the first quarter and surprising analysts who had expected a figure of 0.6 percent.
In contrast to German consumers, the French have shrugged off high unemployment and are on their biggest spending spree in years, driving the eurozone recovery and raising hopes in the government that job creation is about to pick up at last.
INSEE said the second-quarter figure was between 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, but slightly closer to 0.8. That would yield annualised growth of about 3.2 percent, economists said, beating the US annualised rate of 3.0 percent.
An INSEE official told Reuters French 2004 growth could now be above the institute's latest forecast of 2.3 percent.
"With the strong growth that we have had in the second quarter, we should be above the 2.3 percent - unless we see a bad surprise," said Guillaume Mordant, INSEE economist and statistician responsible for quarterly figures.
INSEE also confirmed an estimate of growth in the first quarter of 0.8 percent, the fastest rate since late 2000. The eurozone's second largest economy has now seen growth of 0.6 percent or above for four consecutive quarters.