France’s public debt rose 0.4 points in the third quarter to reach 113.7% of gross domestic product, INSEE said on Friday. Between June and September, the debt swelled by 40,000 million euros and stood at 2,956.8 million euros at the end of the quarter, details the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. In the second quarter it had increased by 6.2 billion and then represented 113.3% of GDP.
The acceleration of indebtedness is mainly explained by State spending, whose contribution to public debt “increases by 36,400 million euros after the +16,300 million of the previous quarter”, details the Insee. At the end of the third quarter, the State debt reached 2,345 million euros. The debt of the Social Security administrations also grew (by 8,800 million) in the third quarter and stood at close to 300,000 million euros at the end of September.
Local authorities, on the other hand, reduced their debt by €6.2 billion during the period and reduced their debt to €241.7 billion.
97.6% of GDP before the health crisis
The Maastricht European Treaty of 1992 set a public debt limit for states at 60% of GDP, which France exceeded at the end of 2002 and has never been lowered. But since the health crisis, this rule, like that of a public deficit of less than 3% of GDP, has been suspended.
At the end of 2019, before the Covid-19 crisis, French public debt stood at 97.6% of GDP. Since the health crisis and the millionaire expenses of companies and households, it has fluctuated between 110 and 115% of GDP.
Source: BFM TV
