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France pushed back its target to meet EU deficit rules by two years yesterday, potentially putting the country on a collision course with Brussels.
Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Paris would not get its budget deficit down to the EU limit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) until 2017 — two years later than had been originally forecast.
France had promised Brussels that it would return to 3 per cent next year but Mr Sapin said the 2015 deficit would come in at 4.3 per cent — a far cry from the maximum.
Mr Sapin said the deficit this year would be 4.4 per cent of GDP.
He also estimateded that growth would be a sluggish 0.4 per cent after two quarters during which the economy stagnated completely.
Officially, Paris was banking on a growth rate of 1 per cent this year but cut the estimate to “around 0.5 per cent” last month.
