France Falls Short of EU Deficit Target
Posted on 10th September 2014
Set at 3%, France will miss the target by over one percent, with its budget deficit set to be 4.4% for this year. The country is also predicting a deficit of 4.3% of GDP for 2015.
The minister, Michel Sapin, went on to say that the country will fall short of the target for the next three years, confirming that he has lowered France’s projections for growth accordingly.
An Economic Reality
M. Sapin went on say that despite France falling short, it was not requesting that the EU change its policy and rules. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday morning, the minister said that the lack of growth experience in France reflected the wider environment in Europe.
He went on to say that the lack of growth was an:
“economic reality”
It is not the first time the country has missed the budget deficit targets, while the country still struggles to tackle high rates of unemployment.
With arguments in the French government punctuating François Hollande’s presidency, a number of high profile ministers have resigned citing bitter rows over the French economic policy.
Lower Projections
Announcing the missed target, M. Sapin said that France was lowering its projections for growth from 0.7% to 0.4% for 2014. For next year, the minister said growth projections were being taken down from 1.7% to 1%.
The continuance of plans for cutting back on public spending were also confirmed, with the French government planning 21bn euros (£17bn) of savings for next year and making total savings of 50bn euros by 2017.
However, M. Sapin went on to say that despite the cutbacks, it would hold resolute on its stance of not increasing taxes.
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