France slams brake on public spending as it struggles to bring its finances back under control

France is putting an ‘emergency brake’ on public spending to bring its finances back under control, its finance minister has said.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Bruno Le Maire warned the deficit for 2023 will have been ‘significantly’ above target and said further spending cuts were needed.

‘Due to the loss of tax revenues in 2023, we will be significantly above the 4.9 per cent target,’ he said, adding that the £8.5billion of cuts this year ‘are not about shaving down costs, but an emergency brake’.

A further £10billion of spending cuts will be required in 2025 to get the ballooning deficit under control.

The comments – made ahead of Jeremy Hunt’s Budget yesterday – underline the scale of the task facing countries as recovery from the pandemic stutters in the wake of soaring inflation.