PARIS, March 2 (Reuters) - The French government is to revise its official forecast for 2009 gross domestic product to show a contraction of between 1.0 percent and 1.5 percent, business daily Les Echos reported on Monday.
The forecast, which is slightly more optimistic than the European Commission's forecast for a fall of 1.8 percent, is due to be presented to the cabinet on Wednesday, the newspaper said.
It said the government also forecast the budget deficit to GDP ratio would reach 5.5 percent in 2009, well above the EU's 3 percent ceiling.
The government has not yet officially altered its existing forecast of 0.2-0.5 percent growth but Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said last month she expected the economy to contract by around 1 percent in 2009. (Writing by James Mackenzie)