PARIS (Reuters) – France’s public deficit in 2023 will be higher than expected and could exceed 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), Public Accounts Minister Thomas Cazenave said on Thursday, attributing this deterioration to a “new unfavorable international situation.
“The deficit will be greater than 5% in 2023,” declared Thomas Cazenave on franceinfo, while the government previously expected a deficit of 4.9% of GDP.
“Who says economic slowdown (…) says less tax revenue, less social contributions (…) so the deficit will be higher than expected.”
The slowdown in the German economy, China and the war in Ukraine also explain this deterioration, specified Thomas Cazenave.
Read also…
The Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire had already declared in an interview published on March 6 by Le Monde that the public deficit for the year 2023 should be established “significantly beyond” the objective set by the government.
The latter plans to reduce the public deficit this year to 4.4% of GDP. To this end, he already announced last month 10 billion euros in additional savings to compensate for a lower-than-expected level of growth.
(Written by Corentin Chappron, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
©2024 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.