PARIS (AP) -- France's GDP grew slightly in the last quarter of 2011, the national statistics agency said Wednesday, bringing total economic growth for the year to 1.7 percent, just off government estimates.
The figures beat the Insee agency's own estimates — it had predicted the economy would contract in the fourth quarter. Instead, GDP advanced 0.2 percent. Insee has also said it expects a contraction in the first quarter of this year.
It's still unclear, though, whether that will be sufficient to keep France on track for reducing its deficit over the next several years and balancing its budget by 2016.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is expected to seek a second term in spring elections but is trailing his Socialist opponent in polls, has staked his credibility on meeting those targets. In recent months, his government has repeatedly revised its budgets to slash more spending as its growth forecasts proved overly rosy.
Most recently, the government halved its growth forecast for this year to 0.5 percent.
Finance Minister Francois Baroin said the figures released Wednesday indicated it could meet that target. He also noted that 2011 growth was in line with the government's projection.
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