PARIS, July 29 (Reuters) - French economic growth stalled unexpectedly in the second quarter from the previous three months on weak consumer spending and a drop in business investment, the INSEE national statistics agency said on Friday.
A Reuters poll of 34 analysts had on average forecast growth of 0.2 percent, down from a revised 0.7 percent in the first three months of the year. The lowest estimate in the poll was for 0.1 percent.
Traditionally the main driver of French growth, consumer spending showed no growth at all in the quarter, which was marred by floods, strikes and violent street protests over a contested labour law.
Meanwhile, business investment fell 0.2 percent from the previous quarter, when many companies had rushed to take advantage of a tax write-off on some investments before its expiration. It was later extended for a year.
While domestic demand was flat, foreign trade added 0.3 percentage points to growth as imports fell more than exports, INSEE said.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said in a statement that the figures were "disappointing", and reflected the exceptionally strong growth in the previous quarter and exceptional factors like strikes in refineres.
He said the government was nonetheless sticking with its 2016 growth forecast of 1.5 percent.
MAIN FIGURES QUARTERS Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Total GDP 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.0 Imports 1.6 2.6 0.5 -1.3 Household consumption 0.5 0.0 1.2 0.0 Public consumption 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.4 Investment 0.6 1.1 1.3 -0.4 - Business investment 0.4 1.5 2.1 -0.2 - Household investment -0.2 0.0 0.2 -0.1 - Public investment 2.6 1.5 0.1 -1.7 Exports -0.2 0.8 -0.3 -0.3 Contributions to growth: Domestic demand exstocks 0.5 0.4 1.0 0.0 Stocks variations 0.5 0.6 -0.1 -0.4 Trade balance -0.6 -0.6 -0.2 0.3 For a graphic of GDP by contributions: http://link.reuters.com/pyx28s For further details from INSEE: http://www.insee.fr/en/themes/info-rapide.asp?id=26 (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Andrew Callus)