2023-12-22 08:37:38
Between July and September 2023, French debt increased by 41.3 billion euros, reaching 3,088.2 billion euros, stabilizing at 111.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), as in the previous quarter. , announced the National Institute of Statistics (Insee), Friday December 22.
The increase in debt in absolute value comes mainly from the increase in State debt (+45.3 billion euros). The debt of various central administration bodies fell by 1.3 billion euros; that of local authorities, of 1.1 billion euros; and that of social security administrations, 1.6 billion.
In the first quarter of 2023, the debt had exceeded the symbolic threshold of 3,000 billion euros for the first time, rising to 112.5% GDP, compared to 111.8% at the end of December 2022. The level debt for the second quarter was revised slightly downward, to 111.7%, compared to 111.8% previously announced.
Agreement to relax EU budgetary rules
The European Treaty of Maastricht of 1992 set a public debt limit for States at 60% of GDP, a threshold that France exceeded at the end of 2002, never to fall below it once more since.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the war in Ukraine, this rule as well as that of a public deficit below 3% of GDP have been suspended. They will be reactivated in 2024.
On Wednesday, the finance ministers of the European Union, however, agreed on a relaxation of European budgetary rules, which should guarantee the recovery of public finances without compromising investments in particular in favor of the green transition.
In its public finance programming law setting France’s budgetary trajectory until 2027, adopted in September in Parliament thanks to article 49.3 of the Constitution, the government plans to reduce the debt to 108.1% of GDP by this deadline and the public deficit at 2.7% of GDP, compared to 4.9% forecast for this year.
At the microphone of Franceinfo on Friday, the Minister Delegate in charge of public accounts, Thomas Cazenave, recognized the need to “better control” public finances of France. “Can we stay with a 5% deficit, 3,000 billion in debt? No “he decided, recalling the government’s desire to gradually eliminate the “tariff shield” deployed by the executive to moderate the impact on consumers of the surge in gas and electricity prices.
1703319409
#French #public #debt #stabilized #billion #euros #INSEE
