The government will freeze an additional 1% of the appropriations of its 2023 budget to maintain its trajectory in terms of public finances, announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Tuesday, May 23, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire , and the entourage of Elisabeth Borne.
The Prime Minister validated, during a meeting in Matignon, a proposal from her Minister of the Economy which consists of "an increase in the credits placed in reserve - frozen - in the 2023 budget, up to 1% of the credits provided in the finance law (excluding civil servants' salaries), "said the entourage of Ms. Borne. "I proposed to the Prime Minister to take an additional precautionary measure to meet our public finance commitments in 2023," Le Maire told AFP.
This 1% freeze “applies to all state credits except salaries. They represent 1.8 billion euros and this 1.8 billion euros is added to the 5% of State credits which had already been frozen for a total amount of frozen credits of 10 billion euros”, added the Minister. This measure "must guarantee us that we will meet our public finance objectives in 2023, that is to say return to below 5% deficit", he argued.
The government is awaiting the rating of its debt, scheduled for the beginning of June, by the financial agency Standard and Poor's. At the end of April, the Fitch agency lowered the French rating, citing the strong social tensions at work around the pension reform. Mr. The Mayor then assured that he would "pass structuring reforms".
After reaching 4.7% of GDP in 2022, the public deficit should rise slightly this year (4.9%) then gradually decline from 2024 to reach 2.7% in 2027, in the European nails, according to the sheet roadmap for the coming years, presented in April. Deleveraging should also experience a boost, with public debt representing 108.3% of GDP in 2027, but still far from the European target of 60%. It was at 111.6% of GDP at the end of 2022.
