July 04, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1428

PARIS, July 3: Flat-screen televisions sold like hot cakes in France last year but shoppers shunned new cars as overall household consumption grew by 2.1pc, the national statistics institute INSEE said on Tuesday.

The increase, slightly less than the 2005 figure of 2.2pc, was helped by a gain in buying power, which expanded by 2.3pc, INSEE said.

At the same time, the French managed to put a bit more of their income aside and the household savings rate edged up to 15.5pc.

INSEE underscored the performance of goods and services connected with information and communications technologies, which posted an increase of 15.8pc and represented one third of all spending by volume.

Sales of equipment used to receive, reproduce and record sound and images leapt by 27.4pc in 2006, extending a jump the previous year of 21.1pc.

Meanwhile, new car sales fell by 4.2 per cent and overall auto sales were down by 2.5 per cent, in part owing to high petrol prices.

Other items that flopped last year included DVDs, which showed a decrease for the first time, and audio CDs which fell back by a further 10.4pc.—AFP