The European Commission is skeptical about the ability of France to bring its public deficit below the 3% threshold of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, building on 3.2% after 3.4 % this year, according to its economic winter forecast released Thursday.
this expectation of a 3.2% deficit was slightly better than the 3.3% that was envisaged in the latest forecasts from the EU executive published in early November. But Brussels continues to believe that France will not meet its goal because of a growth in tax revenues too low to compensate for public spending.
Revenue Growth should s’ accelerate but “only 2.3%” next year, after 1.9% in 2016, “tax cuts for companies planned under the responsibility of the Covenant are not fully compensated,” is -he said in a statement. In addition the state spending and health care “should evolve in line with recent trends,” it added.
More structural efforts 2017
in mid-January, the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, had accused France of delay to conduct the structural reforms needed to “correct its excessive deficit “2017.” clearly, the country will have to make more structural efforts in 2017 to correct its excessive deficit, “affirmed the Commissioner, according to which” it would have been easier if more effort had been made in 2015 and 2016 “.
Paris is committed to bring the deficit from 3.7% of GDP in 2015 to 3.3% this year before recovering in 2017 , the year of presidential and parliamentary elections under the symbolic threshold of 3% of GDP, set by the “stability pact” European. Aware that Paris would not bring its deficit below 3% in 2015, the Commission granted it a period of two years to run.
A slight growth growth, unemployment down
side growth, the EU executive continues to expect GDP growth in France of 1.7% in 2017 (not Paris expressed forecasting, ed), but slightly reduced to 1.3% against 1.4% previously, its forecast for this year. The French government is, meanwhile, 1.5% growth in 2016, after 1.1% in 2015. In 2017, growth should be “driven by private consumption and a recovery in investment,” Pierre Moscovici said on Thursday, Commissioner for the Economy.
Brussels also believes that the level of public debt to GDP will be 97.1% in 2017, after 96, 8% this year –contre 97.4% and 97.1% anticipated three months ago in the forecasts of automne–, and 96.2% in 2015. the Commission sees the unemployment rate in France decline slightly next year, to 10.3%, after 10.5% in 2016 as in 2015. a rate which would stand in 2017 slightly above the average for the euro area (10.2%).
AFP Source
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