French public debt was reduced at the end of 2021 to 112.5% ??of GDP, INSEE said on Tuesday, taking advantage of strong growth last year.
The debt stood at 2813.1 billion euros, detailed the statistics institute, which represents 112.5% ??of GDP against a previous estimate at the end of March of 112.9%. Public debt had been 114.6% at the end of 2020. The public deficit stood at 6.4% of GDP at the end of last year, which represents an amount of 160.7 billion euros. euros, against an estimate of 6.5% at the end of March. In 2020, the public deficit peaked at 8.9%. If the public accounts look better in 2021, it is mainly due to the 6.8% economic recovery recorded last year, after the historic 7.8% recession suffered in 2020 and the “whatever” policy. it costs” led by the government.
However, public debt and public deficit are still moving well above the limits set by the Maastricht budgetary rules, which tolerate a debt of 60% of GDP and a deficit of 3%. These Stability Pact rules were, however, suspended at the start of 2020 and until the end of 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, then pushed back again to the end of 2023 in recent days, in particular due to the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.
This derogation clause made it possible to incur exceptional public expenditure to support households and businesses during the crisis, digging into public accounts. The government plans to drop the public deficit below 3% by 2027.
