Production Drives Growth in French 3Q

"All the motors of growth are accelerating simultaneously: consumption, investment and exports," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said in a statement.

The data by the state statistics agency Insee, which confirm earlier forecasts, show the fastest pace of growth since the second quarter of 2006, when Europe's third largest economy grew a quarterly 0.9 percent.

Insee maintained its forecast for 1.8 percent growth for the full year, which is below the government's forecast of between 2 percent and 2.5 percent. Insee did not release yearly figures Wednesday.

Nongovernment economists doubt that French gross domestic product growth will top 2 percent this year.

The third quarter growth comes as a boost to President Nicolas Sarkozy after disappointing growth in the second quarter of just 0.3 percent.

"The figure is reassuring," said Nicolas Bouzou, an economist at think tank Asteres. "Growth seems rather balanced and its bases are healthy."

Still, analysts warned that growth would soften in the fourth quarter because of the slowdown in the U.S. economy and the strengthening euro.

The production of goods accelerated in the quarter, growing 1.2 percent after 0.1 percent in the second quarter, with manufacturing growing 1.3 percent. The production of equipment goods rose 4.4 percent, after falling 0.2 percent in the past quarter. Household consumption increased 0.9 percent, after 0.8 percent in the second quarter.

Exports accelerated to 1.7 percent, growing from 0.7 percent in the previous quarter. Imports were down to 1.4 percent from 1.8 percent in the second quarter.