PARIS: The French economy grew 0.2 percent in the third quarter of this year versus the second, the country's central bank said on Wednesday in its third estimate for the period, unchanged from the figure it predicted a month ago.

Last week, French statistics office INSEE predicted growth of 0.1 percent for both the third and fourth quarters. France, the euro zone's second-biggest economy, posted zero growth in the first two quarters of the year.

The central bank offered its latest estimate in its monthly business climate survey, which showed that an index of confidence in the industrial sector fell to 96 in September from 97 in August.

Its index of confidence in the services sector stood at 93 in September, and the central bank revised down the index for August to 93 from 94.

Copyright Reuters, 2014