Bank of France chief Christian Noyer said on Wednesday he was confident about growth prospects for the world and French economies but called for caution against the threat of inflation. "World growth has resumed and we see positively in our exports that this is helping us get going again, so I am confident for world growth and I am confident for French growth," he told RTL radio. Noyer said growth had clearly returned to the French economy "but we don't know yet at which pace it will develop. "We see we have returned to a rate in the order of 1.5 to two percent per year. Things should pick up progressively and we should reach the average growth level we have known over the past five or 10 years. But that remains to be seen." Asked about inflation, he said: "We must always be very attentive to inflation. It is very important for growth to not have inflation." On currencies, Noyer said the euro-dollar rate had swung in both ways since the single currency's launch but was now not far from its starting point. "We cannot forget that the dollar is rather weak at the moment but there are many other currencies of countries we trade with -- Britain, Switzerland, Japan, Australia -- which are stable against the euro." The French economy grew by a paltry 0.2 percent in 2003, the lowest rate since a contraction in 1993. The government has set a target of 1.7 percent growth this year and Finance Minister Francis Mer said last week he saw good chances of reaching it. Emmanuel Ferry, economist at the investment house Exane, said that target looked ambitious and forecast 2004 growth of 0.9 percent.//