Banque de France (BdF), France's central bank, upheld on Friday a previous slight growth forecast over the first quarter this year.

In its economic monthly report, the bank noted that "the industrial production increased slightly, driven by other transport equipment, excluding automobiles" in February, with deliveries pointed to "a renewed growth in most sectors."

The capacity utilisation was slightly improved to 75.5 percent over the period, and the industrial sector would maintain a stable growth this month, it said.

As to services outlook, the BdF saw a slight fall in the sector's activities in the short term.

Last month, the business sentiment indicator in industry gained one point to 96 while that of services stood at 88, down by two points.

Originally targeting an economic growth of 0.8 percent in 2013, France could revise down its growth target for the country's economy by some 0.5 to 0.6 percentage points as there is still no light at the end of the tunnel of the economic gloom in Europe.

Xinhua