Without further efforts, France's deficit is expected to reach 6,1% in 2030, according to the IMF.

France has committed to bringing its public deficit within European limits by 2029, i.e. below 3% of GDP, despite slower growth in 2025 and 2026 in a difficult international environment.

According to the IMF, the French public deficit risks continuing to slide in the absence of additional savings measures: after reaching 5,8% of GDP in 2024, it could slowly increase to reach 6% in 2029 and 6,1% in 2030, where the government foresees a return to the target.

The IMF's forecasts in its fiscal policy report published Wednesday are based on the measures contained in the 2025 budget and the 2023-2027 budget programming law, the international organization said, without taking into account additional measures recently announced by France.

The government hopes to reduce the deficit to 5,4% of GDP this year, at the cost of a budgetary effort of around fifty billion euros, recently reinforced by an additional five billion.

He then intends to reduce it to 4,6% in 2026 through a new effort estimated at €40 billion. This would be based primarily on a reduction in spending, which Economy Minister Eric Lombard hopes will be equitable between the State, Social Security, and local authorities, while the possibility of a tax increase for households or businesses has been ruled out.

The possibility of closing tax loopholes is also on the table. Prime Minister François Bayrou has promised answers by July 14.

Currently the highest in the Eurozone, the French public deficit would continue to decline thereafter, to 4,1% of GDP in 2027 and 3,4% in 2028, according to the government.

The objective is to return below the 3% ceiling authorized by European budgetary rules, but later than the rest of the eurozone, with a target of 2,8% in 2029.

"We believe the French government has presented ideas and proposals that go in the right direction, but we expect more clarity from the measures adopted," Vitor Gaspar, director of fiscal affairs at the IMF, told AFP on Wednesday.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.