The governor of the Bank of France, François Villeroy de Galhau, called on Friday the French government to construct a budget for 2024 that demonstrates “more commitment and credibility”.
In the past, my country is not failed to meet its budgetary commitmentsnoted the central banker during a speech in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), where the Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union met on Friday.
I sincerely hope that the next multi-year public finance programming law and the 2024 budget will demonstrate more commitment and credibilityhe continued.
The end of whatever it is
To reduce France’s heavy debt, the government indicated on Thursday that it would present at the end of September a budget for 2024 which seals the gradual end of whatever it means and identifies 16 billion euros in savings, mainly thanks to the end of the electricity tariff shield program.
The executive aims to reduce the country’s debt from 111.8% of GDP in 2022 to 108.1% in 2027. The public deficit should go from 4.8% of GDP in 2022 to 4.9% in 2023 then 4. 4% in 2024 and 2.7% at the end of the five-year term, under the European objective of 3%.
In the first quarter of 2023, French debt had exceeded the symbolic threshold of 3,000 billion euros (114.8% of GDP) for the first time, having increased massively since the health crisis.
Along with high inflation, public debts have reached historic levels due to unprecedented shock waves but also, for different countries, to debts accumulated in the past, underlined François Villeroy de Galhau.
Now that these shocks are fading, governments must avoid excessively expansionary positions that would further fuel inflationary pressures, he added.