PARIS (MNI) – France has undershot its public deficit target for
last year, Prime Minister Francois Fillon indicated Monday. That should
give it a modest headstart for the more challenging deficit reduction
looming this year.
The central government’s deficit should come in E4 billion less
than the most recent budget projection of E95.3 billion, “which means
that the public deficit for 2011 will very probably be less than the
5.7% of GDP we had pledged,” Fillon told the press in his New Year’s
greetings.
While conceding that conditions were “very difficult,” Fillon
insisted on the need for further deficit reductions. This year’s target
is 4.5% of GDP, ahead of an expected return below the Maastricht ceiling
of 3% in 2013.
–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; Email: ssandelius@marketnews.com.
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