Paris (AFP)
The public deficit of France should be 2.2% in 2020, said Thursday Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, reiterating the government's previous forecast.
"Yes, under the current conditions," he answered a question on this subject. "I do not know everything that will happen in the year 2020, I do not know what America and China will do in terms of trade war," he nonetheless warned.
The executive had initially forecast a 2% public deficit in 2020, ahead of budget announcements in response to the "yellow vests" crisis.
On Wednesday, the government announced a three-year budget extension and debt recovery, as well as bonuses for staff, in an emergency plan for public hospitals in crisis.
For the next year, the extension amounts to 300 million euros, but will not result in "substantial changes to the major balances in the 2020 budget," according to Bercy.
"We are determined to restore France's public finances, we have done so for almost three years, we have gone out of the excessive deficit procedure, we have fallen below the 3% deficit, we have stabilized a debt that had exploded over the past ten years, "said Wednesday the Minister of Economy Bruno Mayor.
"There is suffering in France," he added, referring to the "yellow vests" and the expectations of some public services, including the hospital: "I think that answer is fair".
The European Commission nevertheless pinned Wednesday several European countries including France estimating that their budget forecasts for 2020 presented a risk of "non-compliance" with the European rules. According to the Commission, the structural effort - that is to say the effort provided without taking into account the economic situation - remains too weak.
In early November, President Emmanuel Macron had tapped the rule on the maintenance of the public deficit of countries in the euro area below the 3% of GDP, believing that it was a debate of another century.
© 2019 AFP