Paris - The French economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2009, the same level of modest growth as in the second quarter, the government's statistics office INSEE said Friday.

Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said that GDP growth would nevertheless be negative for the entire year.

However, she noted that the rate of job losses was decelerating, which was another sign that the French economy was gradually emerging from the crisis.

While official figures were to be made public later Friday, Lagarde said that "only 5,000 jobs were lost in the third quarter." (dpa)