The savings to be made on the State and Social Security budgets must reach “at least 20 billion euros” in 2025, and no longer the 12 billion envisaged so far, announced Wednesday the Minister for Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave .
Taking into account the 2023 results of public finances and the revision of our growth forecasts in 2024, lowered from 1.4% to 1%, I must tell you in transparency that (…) we must probably increase our effort from twelve to least 20 billion euros in additional savings, announced during a hearing at the National Assembly the minister, who came with the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire to present the cancellation of ten billion euros in credits from the Status for 2024.
The 20 billion will relate next year to both the State and Social Security.
This year’s cancellations are only a first step, warned Mr. Cazenave, considering that we have entered a new public finance context marked by a less favorable economic situation and high interest rates.
We already know that the public deficit target of 4.9% – in 2023 – will be significantly exceeded, he confirmed.
Mr. Cazenave, however, stressed that the obligation to adjust the State budget by ten billion euros in 2024 – cancellations which must be made, he insisted – came from lower revenues in 2023 compared to to forecasts, but that spending was held, with six billion euros less spending.
He indicated that the State had collected 7.7 billion euros less revenue than expected last year, including 4.4 billion euros less in corporate tax, 1.4 billion less VAT, 1.4 billion less income tax.
Like Mr. Le Maire before him, he however considered that the economies of 2024 are not a cure for austerity.
We are in no way renouncing our ecological ambition (…) we are not calling into question the priority staffing levels in public services or for the protection of the French, we respect the commitments of the weapons programming laws, the interior, research, we are not calling into question the priority projects of national education, he said.
We are not stopping our support for the development of public development assistance, he also affirmed.