The French economy bounced back somewhat in the fourth quarter of last year, after a flat third quarter, preliminary data released by national statistics institute Insee showed Tuesday. French gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter of 2006 was between 0.6% and 0.7%, Insee said in its flash estimate. On the year, GDP grew 2%, Insee said. Insee didn't comment on its first GDP estimate for the fourth quarter and the whole year. French gross domestic product was forecast to have grown 0.5% on the quarter and 2.1% on the year, according to a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires. In its latest quarterly review, published Dec. 11, 2006, Insee had said it expected the euro zone's second largest economy's GDP to grow 0.9% in the last quarter and 2.1% in 2006, revised down from 2.3% previously. Those forecasts compared with the government's forecasts for quarterly growth of 0.6%-0.8% in the fourth quarter and 2%-2.5% growth in 2006. After unexpected 1.2% growth in the second quarter on a quarterly basis, the French economy ground to a halt in the third quarter of 2006, with a flat GDP reading on a quarterly basis. This struck at the time an unexpected blow to the French finance ministry's much-publicized optimism on growth. French exports could have been a negative factor for growth last year, as the unadjusted trade deficit over the year widened to EUR29.2 billion from EUR22.9 billion in 2005. However, the French unemployment rate dropped by the end of December last year to 8.6%, the lowest level since May 2001.