The ailing French economy, the eurozone's second biggest, shrank 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, data showed Wednesday. According to dpa, the quarter-to-quarter drop meant that for all of 2012, the economy stagnated at zero per cent growth, down from 1.7 per cent the previous year, said statistics office INSEE. Meanwhile the number of jobless rose for a 22nd month in a row, to 3.188 million in late February - up by 0.6 per cent from the previous month, and just below a 1997 record high. The unemployment rate in France was 10.6 per cent in late January.
