France sees growth recovery in 2013

PARIS - French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Sunday saw a "real potentiel for growth" next year, dismissing any eventual move to lower further next year's growth target of 1.2 percent.

Speaking in an interview with the weekly paper Le Journal De Dimanche, Moscovici said "Once we are able to regain momentum in Europe and France, we have a real potential for growth in 2013."

The minister added France will "support the activity by an active economic policy, especially in favor of purchasing power, housing and comapanies' investment," to revive the country's sluggish economy despite gloomy indicators.

France, Europe' second main powerhouse, reported a zero-growth for the April-June period this year for the third consecutive quarter, ringing an alarming bell of a recession.

But accroding to Moscovici, "weak growth is not a fatality" as "structural reforms ... will stimulate growth."

As for the budget deficit target of 3 percent, the minister reiterated the government's pledge to be in line with European safe standard of budget gap.

"We do not maintain a deficit target of 3 percent in 2013 for the sake of it: cutting debt is imperative to maintain our sovereignty and the control of our destiny," he stressed.

The ruling Socialists said 33 billion euros ($40.7 billion) will be needed to narrow the deficit to 3 percent of GDP in 2013. But an expected limp growth triggered concerns that the government may struggle to realize its promises of economy recovery and budget deficit cut.