The decree was signed by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. (document)
Paris:
The French government announced 10 billion euros ($11 billion) of budget cuts on Thursday in an effort to rein in the budget deficit after economic growth failed to meet expectations.
The controversial cuts include €2 billion for environmental and energy transition plans.
Previous budget cuts have also been made to education, justice, defense and regional development.
The decree was published in France’s official journal and signed by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who was recently appointed by centrist President Emmanuel Macron in a cabinet reshuffle.
The government on Sunday cut its growth forecast to 1% and warned it would cut the deficit to 4.4% of GDP in 2024 due to international tensions and a slowdown in major trading partners such as China and Germany.
The government said it was concerned about an international rating agency’s downgrade of France’s debt rating.
The new budget cuts are on top of €16 billion in spending cuts already included in the 2024 budget, mainly due to the phaseout of energy subsidies as gas and electricity prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sources in the French Finance Ministry also warned that the deficit in 2023 could exceed the 4.9% of GDP target.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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