France’s macroeconomic forecasts are maintained for the end of 2023, the government announced on Tuesday after the presentation to the Council of Ministers of the “end of management finance bill” for this year.
This text is a new category of law, resulting from the public finance management modernization law of December 2021, explained government spokesperson Olivier Vran.
He indicated that France’s public deficit would be 4.9% of GDP in 2023, compared to 5% planned in the initial finance bill (PLF). The PLF 2024 already took into account this forecast of 4.9% for this year.
Likewise, Mr. Vran confirmed that the 2023 public debt would be equivalent to 109.7% of GDP (gross domestic product) after 111.8% in 2022.
According to the office of the Minister of Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave, however, a credit of 3.8 billion additional euros will have to be opened at the end of the year to finance a higher debt load than expected.
This sum should be compensated by the cancellation in September, by decree, of 5 billion euros of state spending.
Mr. Cazenave’s office also announced that at the end of the year there would be 5.2 billion openings of other additional credits, largely linked to Ukraine, and an equivalent cancellation of 5.2 billion new ones. expenses.
The High Council of Public Finances judged in a press release that the forecast of 4.9% of GDP public deficit was plausible for 2023.
He also observed that the drop in the debt-to-GDP ratio compared to 2022 benefited from its denominator from a significant increase in GDP in value, mainly due to high inflation.
But according to him, France should continue to see its position in terms of debt erode within the euro zone. He considered it necessary to return to debt levels guaranteeing France to have sufficient room for maneuver to be able to face future macroeconomic or financial shocks and the public investment needs required in particular by the ecological transition.