The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, announced on Tuesday that he intended to accelerate the pace of France’s debt reduction during the presentation, scheduled for Thursday, of the trajectory of public finances until 2027. are going to accelerate the pace of France’s debt reduction”, declared Bruno Le Maire, questioned on BFMTV / RMC, stressing that “the financial conditions have changed radically”, in reference to the sharp rise in the interest rates at which France borrows on the steps.
Debt has widened considerably since the health crisis and the “whatever the cost”, increasing the debt burden all the more as interest rates have rebounded sharply around 3% for French bonds to 10 years, after years of very low or even negative rates. The burden of public borrowing has thus increased by 15.1 billion euros in one year, to 53.2 billion in 2022, the National Institute of Statistics (Insee) indicated at the end of March.
“An additional interest rate point on the French debt is, by 2027, fifteen billion euros of additional charge on the French public debt”, warned Bruno Le Maire. “It is for this reason, because of these new financial conditions (…), that we are going to accelerate the deleveraging of France”, he insisted.
He specified that on Thursday he would present France’s new stability program for the period 2023-2027, which will detail the growth forecasts and the trajectory of public finances over this period. Until now, the government was counting on a debt of 110.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2027, more or less the level of 2022 (111.6% according to INSEE), for a public deficit which would fall below the European limit of 3% of GDP. “I have no desire to throw money out the window because it’s taxpayers’ money,” assured the government’s number two.
“Snapping money for the load just because interest rates have gone up, I find that’s so much money that could have gone to hospitals, to colleges, to nurseries, to universities, towards green investments, towards the decarbonisation of our economy”.