Amending budget 2022: the public deficit a little lower than expected, at 4,9%

Better-than-expected tax receipts, in particular from corporate tax and income tax, as well as some lower expenditure, reduced the deficit by 4,6 billion euros.

“2022 is not only the year of the fight against the high cost of living, it is also the year of the fight for well-kept accounts”, assured the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal in a statement sent to the press.

According to its latest macroeconomic forecasts, the government expects GDP growth of 2022% and an inflation rate of 2,7% in 5,4.

This second amending budget for 2022, three months after the adoption of the first, then called the "purchasing power package", "is really in the same spirit" and has the "main objective of financing purchasing power measures for the French", according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

"This text is the new stage in the fight against the high cost of living that we have been leading relentlessly for a year," added Mr. Attal.

It will include in particular the recent announcements on the payment of a new energy check for the most modest, in the amount of 1,5 billion euros, and the extension of the rebate at the pump until November 15, for 440 millions of euros.

The text will also contain the envelope of 275 million euros announced to help universities and research organizations cope with soaring energy costs, and that of 200 million euros for fuel expenses of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

France competences (the regulator of work-study and professional training) is also awarded an extension of two billion euros for the end of the year.

Faced with these new expenses, Bercy is delighted with "a few good surprises on certain revenues", with a corporate tax and an income tax which should each bring in two billion euros more than what had been anticipated this summer. .

The levy on revenues destined for the European Union will also be lower than expected, also around two billion euros.

Public accounts will also benefit from lower spending. For example, due to a lower than estimated number of defaults on loans guaranteed by the State, granted at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government will be able to take back around two billion euros which were planned for deal with arrears.

The amending budget must be presented Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, then the Ministers of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal will be heard Thursday in the Senate on the text, the second being also invited to speak Wednesday in the middle of the day before the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.

The examination will then begin in the National Assembly on November 7, then on the 14th in the Senate.