by Leigh Thomas

PARIS (Reuters) – The government is counting on more than 16 billion euros in savings in its 2024 budget, Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday, while Bercy slightly revised downwards its growth forecast for next year.

“These 16 billion euros of savings in 2024 on public spending come for 10 billion euros from the end of the price shield on gas and electricity, for 4.5 billion euros from the reduction of aid to businesses, for 1 billion euros from the reduction in aid for employment policy at a time when the unemployment rate reached a historic low and 700 million euros in revenue from a structural reform of the reform of unemployment insurance”, explained Bruno Le Maire to the press while presenting the macroeconomic forecasts for the 2024 finance bill, which will be presented at the end of the month.

While the government has already had to freeze spending credits of 5 billion euros this year, these new reductions are necessary to maintain the deficit reduction course that Bercy has set itself, of 4.9% of the gross domestic product in 2023 to 2.7% in 2027.

The task is further complicated by the fact that the Ministry of the Economy had to slightly revise downwards its growth forecast for 2024, underlined Bruno Le Maire.

“The recession in Germany, the difficulties in China and the persistence of high interest rates will nevertheless have an impact on this 2024 growth. We are therefore revising 2024 growth from 1.6 to 1.4%,” he said. declared.

This forecast, however, remains higher than the 1% growth forecast by the government this year.

Bruno Le Maire predicts that the inflation shock of the past year will continue to ease, favoring household spending, the traditional driver of economic activity in France.

Price growth is expected to slow from 4.9% this year to 2.6% in 2024, moving closer to the European Central Bank’s target, he said.

While reducing spending, the government also plans to increase certain investments, notably with a total increase of 4 billion euros in the budgets of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Armed Forces, added Bruno Le Maire.

Seven billion euros will also be allocated to investments in the ecological transition, which will be specified by the end of the month and financed by the removal of certain tax exemptions for companies using fossil fuels.

However, the money generated by the removal of the tax advantage on non-road diesel, spread out until 2030, will be used to help the agricultural and construction sectors convert to the use of biofuels, declared Bruno Le Maire. .

(Written by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)

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