The public deficit will be “higher than 5%” of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, a level “higher” than the objective of 4.9% which had been set by the government, confirmed the Minister Delegate in charge of public accounts, Thomas Cazenave, Thursday March 21, after information from Le Monde.
The minister, who invoked on Franceinfo a “new economic context” to explain this slippage, however refused to confirm information from Le Monde according to which the executive would now expect a deficit of around 5.6% of GDP . A figure mentioned at the beginning of March by the Director of the Treasury, Bertrand Dumont, during an internal meeting. “It is INSEE [National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies] which publishes the public deficit figure for 2023,” said Mr. Cazenave, the day after meetings at the Elysée on the subject of public finances. INSEE must make this figure public on Tuesday March 26.
At the beginning of March, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, had already warned that the deficit would be “significantly beyond 4.9%” of GDP in 2023.
Deficit target reduced to 4.4% in 2024
Confirming these forecasts, the Minister for Public Accounts put forward several reasons: China’s economic “slowdown”, the war in Ukraine, or even the difficulties of “European partners”, such as Germany, which have “reflected” on France and weigh on growth and therefore on tax revenues. “This is a form of new deal for our public finances,” assured Mr. Cazenave. The state reacted immediately. State spending has been reduced by 10 billion euros to adapt to this new international context. »
While, under these conditions, the objective of a deficit reduced to 4.4% in 2024 appears difficult to maintain, the minister responsible for public accounts limited himself to saying that the government would have “the opportunity to present [ its] stability program, that is to say [its] forecasts to the European Commission”.
“And we will naturally have to take into account the fact that, for the year 2023, the deficit will have been higher than expected and above all, basically, take into account the new economic context,” he declared.
