PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Finance minister Christine Lagarde said GDP growth in France in 2008 is likely to be at the bottom of the range of the official forecast and that an upturn is a possibility from the second half of next year.

Full-year growth will be 'closer to 1.7 percent than 2 percent,' Lagarde told Europe 1 radio.

'The situation will certainly be more difficult to manage this year that it was last year,' she said.

She said the government is 'sticking' to its 1.7 percent to 2.0 percent growth forecast because it expects recent reforms to deliver results 'as early as 2008'.

She said growth is expected at the bottom end of the range 'quite simply because the French economy is subject to external shocks such as the massive increase in the price of a barrel (of oil).' matt.gil@thomsonreuters.com mrg/slj COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.