"The outlook for 2023 is even more degraded" than in 2022, a year marked by the war in Ukraine and the energy shock, he said, presenting his wishes for the new year.
"Our debt and deficit levels are very high" and "the debt financing environment has deteriorated" with soaring interest rates, he noted.
"The year 2022 was not the year of leaving + whatever the cost +", he continued, in reference to the massive expenditure initiated during the health crisis, extended by billions in aid. to households and businesses to face inflation and the energy crisis.
"This degraded situation worries me", a concern being at a "fairly high" level, said the former Minister of the Economy.
In this context, the government's growth forecast - 1% for 2023 after a forecast of 2.7% the previous year -, "remains high", higher than the consensus of economists, even if, according to Mr. Moscovici, "the leading indicators are not as negative as expected".
GDP of France © / AFP
To sustainably reduce the public debt (over 110% of GDP) and the public deficit (expected at 5% of GDP at the end of 2022), the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, announced in January the organization from this year of annual reviews of public expenditure.
The government hopes to bring the public deficit back below the European limit of 3% of GDP in 2027, with a relatively stable debt by this horizon.
This exercise of annual reviews is "indispensable", stressed Mr. Moscovici to journalists, while France is one of the countries in the euro zone whose "public finance situation is among the most degraded" and one champions in terms of public expenditure (about 57% of GDP).
For the boss of the Court of Auditors, "the trajectory (...) still appears too unambitious", with a debt which will be "almost at the level of 2022".
"This is not in line with the evolution of the European partners" who will be around 3% of GDP in public deficit from 2025, he added, deploring these "divergences".
© 2023 AFP