PARIS (MNI) – More dismal prospects for French economic growth this
year will not lead to new austerity measures to meet deficit targets,
thanks to last year’s consolidation efforts and additional revenues,
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Monday.
In the third mini-budget for this year to be presented on February
8, the GDP growth forecast will be revised down from 1.0% to 0.5% to
take account of “the deterioration in our economic environment, even if
the first signs of activity are appearing in Europe,” Fillon told
reporters here, estimating the budget impact at E5 billion.
Still, this year’s public deficit target of 4.5% of GDP can still
be met “without additional efforts from the French” as a result of the
reduction last year to less than 5.4% compared to an initial target of
5.7%, he said.
In addition, the introduction on August 1 of a 0.1% tax on
transactions involving equities quoted on the Paris stock exchange,
on high-speed automatic trading and on naked selling of credit default
swaps will generate E500 million revenues this year, the prime minister
predicted.
Measures to counter the evasion of income and wealth taxes should
bring a further E300 million, he said.
Finally, E1.6 billion in outlays budgeted for this year will be
annulled, for a net impact of E1.2 billion, taking account of E400
million of new measures for employment, he said.
— Paris bureau +331 4271 5540; email: ssandelius@marketnews.com
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