'The figure is astonishing because everyone was expecting a negative figure and preparing for a recession, which is technically two consecutive quarters of negative growth,' Ms Lagarde said.

The French statistics institute INSEE, due to release official figures later Friday, earlier estimated that the economy would contract 0.1 per cent in the three months to Sept after shrinking 0.3 per cent in the second quarter.

'France, unlike Germany on minus 0.5 (per cent) or Britain on minus 0.5 (per cent) has a positive 0.14 per cent,' Lagarde said.

'This is good news and shows that France is not technically in recession,' she said, adding that 'government policies are beginning to have an impact.'

Household consumption and business investment 'are the two drivers which in the third quarter pushed France past Germany and Britain,' the minister said.

Household consumption held up better than in the second quarter, she said, while business investment grew 0.3 per cent after a fall of 1.0 per cent in the three months to June.

External trade, the other major component of the economy, was neutral.

The French government expects overall growth of 1.0 percent this year but recently cut its 2009 forecast to a range of 0.2-0.5 per cent.

The European Commission puts French growth at 0.9 per cent this year and zero in 2009 while the International Monetary Fund expects a recession next year with a contraction of 0.5 per cent. -- AFP