France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the country’s 2024 growth forecast had been revised down from 1.4 to 1.0 percent, and announced spending cuts of 10 billion euros.
The revision “takes into account the new geopolitical context”, he told TF1 television, referring among other issues to the war in Ukraine.
He also raised the situation in the Middle East, China’s “marked economic slowdown” and “a recession in 2023 in Germany”. Weaker than expected tax receipts meant that France was going to have to make immediate savings of 10 billion euros in order to meet its budget targets.
Le Maire’s revised growth forecast aligns with other estimates.—AFP
