21/04/2023 (Agence Europe) – “We want to accelerate France’s debt reduction,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire when he presented the French stability programme on Thursday 20 April, which aims to reduce the public deficit from 6.5% in 2021 to 2.7% of national GDP in 2027 and the public debt from 113% to 108.3% over the same period. He justified this policy by the need to restore room for manoeuvre in the event of a future economic shock and the evolution of debt financing conditions, the servicing of which will reach €70 billion in 2027, i.e. “the State’s largest item of expenditure”. To bring about this budgetary ‘cooling’, which will affect the State more than the local authorities, French public spending will increase less quickly than inflation, the energy shield will end and the policy of tax cuts will continue. (MB)