WASHINGTON, Oct 29 - France's economy should make a gradual, if tentative, recovery toward the end of 2003 after bordering on recession in the first half of the year, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. The IMF said in a review of France's economy that the country's gross domestic product growth should increase to 2 percent in 2004 from 0.3 percent in 2003. Inflation should stay benign, reflecting slack in the economy and the rise in the euro, it said. "The prolonged global slowdown has not spared the French economy," the IMF said in a statement. "However, with the impact of adverse shocks waning and external demand conditions improving, a gradual recovery is expected to take hold toward end 2003," it added//