French finance minister: No revision in growth forecast

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Sunday that there has been "no change" in the country's 2013 growth forecast, after it appeared the figure had been revised downward. "There was no change in the growth forecast as I have read it," the minister told journalists in Paris. "I have not made any revision on the forecast of growth in France," he said. Moscovici was responding to reports of an interview published Saturday with Nice Matin newspaper in which he estimated that growth of France's gross domestic product (GDP) this year would end up somewhere between -0.1 percent and 0.1 percent. "We know the trends and this year growth will be weak and between -0.1 and 0.1 percent," he told the paper. Previous forecasts had shown that the French government expected to present a modest growth of around 0.1 percent. At the same time Moscovici insisted France was out of recession. Also on Sunday he told RTL radio that the growth forecast of between -0.1 and 0.1 percent made reference to figures "totally within the public domain" and which "reflected the consensus of economic institutes". The minister said he stood by the figure of 0.1 percent but added however that there may a new figure on September 25, when France presents its next budget. In its annual report on the French economy, published Monday, the International Monetary Fund estimated that Paris had begun to "stabilise deficits" but should slow down the pace of austerity.