French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said today European growth had been weaker than expected but was optimistic about the outlook for French growth.
He said high oil prices and the euro's strength against the dollar had played a role in holding back growth but added: "Today, the good news is that we have a euro which is lower and which is therefore better for our exports."
The euro has hit nine-month lows just below $1.2160, having shed about 10 per cent of its value against the dollar so far this year. It is now trading around $1.2225.
Mr Breton said the government wanted to encourage firms looking for overseas markets and that growth was seen picking up in the months ahead, in France and elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Breton said experts were looking for French growth of more than 2 per cent in 2006. He said the government was still working on its own forecast but expected it to be above 2 per cent.
He repeated the government's commitment to bringing the budget deficit back below the European Union cap of 3 per cent of gross domestic product - a ceiling which France has surpassed every year since 2002.
"It (meeting the EU deficit target) is the essential objective of the government," Mr Breton said.
The minister said he expected hundreds of thousands of jobs to be created by 2006 as a result of the measures announced yesterday by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who was appointed last week.