France revised down its third-quarter gross domestic product growth to 0.3 percent on Tuesday, from an initial figure of 0.4 percent, and revised down its second-quarter GDP rise to 0.6 percent from a preliminary figure of 0.7 percent.

National statistics institute INSEE said investments in the service sector and in public works were weaker in the third quarter than initially thought.

Consumer services activity was also not as strong as previously estimated.

INSEE said second-quarter GDP was weaker than previously thought primarily because the transportation of goods by road was not as strong as thought.

France's public debt fell to 81.5 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the third quarter of 2010, retreating from a ceiling the government has set for end-2010, a statistics office report showed on Tuesday.

Gross public debt fell by 17 billion euros ($22.52 billion) by the end of the third quarter, reducing the total to 1,574.6 billion euros, the equivalent of 81.5 percent of GDP, statistics office INSEE said in a statement.

At the end of the second quarter, France's public debt stood at 82.9 percent of GDP, which is also the government's target for the end of 2010.