Public debt increases and reaches 3,345.8 billion euros in the first quarter of 2025, according to Insee, an increase of 40.5 billion euros compared to the previous quarter, announces Insee on Thursday.
The debt had increased by 3.8 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2024 and reached 3,305.3 billion euros by keeping 113.2% of GDP, according to the National Statistics Institute.
The Government has planned a budget effort of around fifty billion euros this year, which aims to continue 40 billion in 2026 in a context forced by the will of France to rearm and the increase in the cost of debt, in the process of becoming the first position of expenses.
Prime Minister François Bayrou promised a road map in mid -July, before the presentation of the budget project whose parliamentary examination in autumn promises to be dangerous for government survival.
“Given the Calamitous budgetary situation, the 2026 budget implies unpopular austerity measures, which makes its adoption as difficult, if not more, such as 2025,” says Bruno Cavalier, chief economist of ODO BHF, in a note.
Camps in expenses
The Government wants to prioritize public spending on priority, avoiding an increase in taxes, distributing the effort between state, social and local security authorities.
As they had done at the beginning of the year to allow the adoption of the 2025 budget, the Ministers of the Economy, Eric Lombard and the public accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, will receive all the political groups in Bercy before July 11.
To this difficult French situation is added the strong international uncertainty linked in particular to the increase in American customs tasks or tensions in the Middle East, which weighs on growth.
Insee and the banker of France expect 0.6%in 2025, and the government with 0.7%, a strong slowdown compared to 2024 (1.1%).
Amélie de Montchalin promised on Wednesday to communicate “in every transparency” on the situation of public finances during the “alert committee” that meets for the second time from the parliamentarians of April, elected local officials and social partners. She said there would be no “diving” recipes like the one that had helped expand the deficit in 2023 and 2024.
But the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) sees it as “a new communication exercise” instead of a “real work meeting”.
Source: BFM TV
