French Will Try to Comply with EU Budget Rules Next Year

France’s finance minister says the country plans to cut its budget deficit by €3.6-3.7bn (£2.84bn, $4.6bn) next year in a bid to meet European Union rules.

The minister, Michel Sapin, made the promise in a letter to the European Commission.

The plan is an update on the country’s original draft budget for 2015.

The Commission has until Wednesday to decide whether or not to accept the proposal.

Mr Sapin said he had found the money because of lower-than-expected costs on interest payments, as well as lower contributions to the EU’s budget.

He said France had also gained income through higher tax income, which it pulled in by being tougher on fraud and ending some company tax allowances.

The country has missed a number of budget deficit targets and has struggled with high unemployment and low growth.

Earlier this month, the French government said it would reduce its budget deficit to below the EU threshold of 3% of GDP by 2017, two years later than promised.

That forecast indicated the public deficit would fall to 4.3% next year, but to 2.8% by 2017.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza