French consumer spending drops again in February

PARIS (Reuters) - French consumer spending dropped again in February, falling by 0.2 percent after contracting by 0.9 percent in January, data showed on Friday, piling further gloom on the euro zone's second largest economy.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected household spending to grow by 0.4 percent in February.

The INSEE official statistics office said the drop was mainly due to a 6.1 percent drop in clothing and textile sales, while car sales, which were sharply down in January, inched back up.

Household spending is the motor of France's 2 trillion euro economy but it has been weak for months, with consumers worried over spiralling unemployment, now at a more than 15-year high.

Household purchasing power in France's stagnating economy contracted by 0.4 percent in 2012, the first time it has shrunk since 1984, data showed on Wednesday.