PARIS (Reuters) – A budgetary effort of 40 billion euros will be necessary in 2026 to respect the objective of a reduction in France’s public deficit at 4.6% of its gross domestic product (GDP), said the Minister of Economy, Eric Lombard on Sunday.
Despite the uncertainties provoked by the upheavals of the American president Donald Trump in matters of customs duties, which led Eric Lombard to reduce its forecast for the French economy to 0.7% for 2025, the government intends to respect its trajectory of reduction of the public deficit in order to bring it back under the 3% of GDP in 2029, in accordance with the commitments made to European institutions.
“I maintain (the target of) 4.6% for 2026, which will request an additional effort of 40 billion euros, it is very considerable,” said Eric Lombard on BFMTV.
He said that this effort should mainly go through reductions in public spending. But “it can also be an increase in growth-related revenue,” he added.
To reduce the deficit to 5.4% of GDP this year, after 5.8% in 2024, the government has already decided to suppress five billion euros in expenses out of the nine billion put in reserve at the start of the year.
(Written by Bertrand Boucey)
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