Paris (AFP)

About 45 billion to support the most vulnerable sectors while the recession looks terrible: the government presented Wednesday in the Council of Ministers a new crisis budget.

This is the third amending finance bill (PLFR) drawn up since the start of the crisis and it corresponds to the "second phase of the response to the crisis," said Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire on Tuesday evening. on RTL.

After the more than 400 billion euros in emergency measures taken in the two previous budgets, this new rectified budget will increase public support to "460 billion" euros, the minister said.

It thus includes the 18 billion euros of the aid plan for the tourism sector, one of the most affected by the containment with movement restrictions and the closure which continues in part for cafes and restaurants.

It also includes the € 8 billion plan for the automobile, the € 600 million for French Tech, the € 15 billion for support to the aeronautical sector and aid to the book sector.

In addition, measures in favor of small trade and construction, said Bercy.

For the latter sector, the government plans in particular to compensate for the additional costs generated by health measures on construction sites.

"The focus is on sectors which are strong markers of the French economy and which concern a lot of jobs. This sends a positive signal to support the confidence of entrepreneurs and households," said Hélène Baudchon, economist at BNP Paribas.

While bankruptcies and layoffs are looming, the government will strengthen the short-time working scheme by around 5 billion euros and will release 1 billion to widen aid to companies that hire an apprentice.

Even if in Bercy, we defend a policy of support for "supply", this budget will also include exceptional direct aid for the 800,000 precarious young people under 25 and the poorest households.

Finally, it must endorse 4.5 billion euros in support from the State for local authorities, when their revenues are melting with the crisis and their expenses are increasing to cope with the epidemic.

In total, however, the additional direct budgetary expenditure will only represent 13 billion euros, the rest being cash flow measures (charge deferrals, guaranteed loans, etc.).

However, the deployment of this aid has drawn criticism, as certain sectors consider themselves forgotten, such as agriculture or public transport.

The environmental NGO Greenpeace regrets that alongside plans for the automobile or the air, there is "always zero for the revival of the railway", less emitter of greenhouse gases.

- Record recession, deficit and debt -

In addition to these aid plans, the government is forced to further worsen its economic forecasts for this year. It now expects a recession of -11%, against 8% decline in GDP expected only a few weeks ago.

The difficulties in the tourism sector alone should cut GDP by almost a point this year.

Consequence: with tax revenues that will melt by 27 billion more compared to the already declining estimate of the previous rectified budget, the deficit should further worsen to 11.4% of GDP and the public debt swell to 120, 9%, estimates the government.

On Tuesday, the Banque de France expected a fall of around 10% of French GDP this year, penalized in particular by a 9% drop in consumption, a mechanical effect of the increase in household savings, which should inflate by 100 billion euros.

If the central bank plans to rebound in activity in the third quarter, the boss of Medef, calls him in an interview with Les Echos to speed up deconfinement and in particular to "revise the health protocols applying in companies".

For its part, the government wants to end July 10 the state of health emergency, announced Matignon Tuesday evening.

© 2020 AFP