France predicts budget shortfall
AN AUDIT of French public finances is likely to show a budget shortfall of €7bn (£5.6bn) to €10bn that needs to be addressed for France to meet its public deficit target, finance minister Pierre Moscovici said yesterday.
President Francois Hollande’s five-week-old Socialist government is preparing to raise some taxes and trim spending in order to ensure it hits its 2012 deficit target of 4.5 per cent of GDP.
On 2 July the French national audit will publish a review of the state’s finances, which could guide the new government’s policies.