PARIS, France, Jan 30, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The French economy grew 0.9 percent in 2025, statistics office INSEE said in a preliminary estimate Friday, a slowdown from the 1.1 percent growth seen the previous year. Annual growth in the eurozone's second-largest economy was impacted by a slowdown in the fourth quarter of last year, when GDP rose just 0.2 percent after growing 0.5 percent in the third quarter. Most economists had tabled on fourth-quarter growth of 0.2 to 0.4 percent as consumer spending remained subdued while the government wrestled with passing a budget widely expected to slash spending. In December alone, household spending was down 0.6 percent from November, when it had already fallen by 0.3 percent, INSEE also reported Friday. Finance Minister Roland Lescure said earlier this month that he expected full-year GDP to surpass the government's initial forecast of 0.7 percent, thanks to sustained corporate spending. "We owe that in large part to businesses that have continued to invest, to hire, to produce and to export" he said at the time, saying France's economic outlook was "encouraging". But President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government is struggling to get a 2026 budget passed in a hung parliament, raising doubts about its ability to cut the deficit to five percent of GDP. The credit ratings agency Moody's said this week it expected the deficit to fall to just 5.2 percent this year. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is widely expected on Friday to force through the spending section of the 2026 state budget without a parliamentary vote. But his decision to use the constitutional tool known as article 49 could expose him to more no-confidence votes by opposition groups, which he has so far survived. France has been bogged down in political crises since Macron called a snap poll in 2024 in which he lost his parliamentary majority.