Her state deficit declined in 2024, offering the government a certain relief, as it swings into power in a dispute over the restoration of public finances. The deficit in the central state’s budget shrunk at 156.3 billion euros in 2024 from 173.3 billion euros in 2023, the French Treasury announced. Net tax revenues increased by 2.8 billion euros and expenditure fell by 11.2 billion euros. CORVERSE Although Tuesday’s figures (01.01.2025) do not include the social security system or local government’s finances, they show some positive dynamics in efforts to slow down France’s debt burden. Public finances have escaped their course over the past 18 months, as tax revenues have failed and spending outside the central state has increased. The government estimated more recently that the total deficit for 2024 was about 6% of GDP, much greater than the 4.4% target set in the initial budget for this year. France struggles to face the slip after the summer election that brought in a National Assembly without a majority. In December, MPs voted to force Michel Barnier’s government to resign, as he was trying to pass parliament a 2025 budget bill that would reduce the deficit to 5% of GDP. The new Prime Minister, François Bairu, will face a similar vote Wednesday, after a new budget bill was submitted to parliament Monday afternoon, and which is expected to force the French government to save around 50 billion euros, in hopes of reducing the deficit to 5.4% of GDP by the end of the year from 6% today. It is also likely to reassure the European Commission, which recently expressed concerns about French public spending and even dragged Paris into the excessive deficit process during the summer.
Relief in France by looking at the budget: Budget deficit decreased in 2024
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