European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici expressed hope on Thursday that French authorities would limit the country's probable budget deficit as much as possible next year in order for it not to exceed the threshold prescribed by EU regulations.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2018) European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici expressed hope on Thursday that French authorities would limit the country's probable budget deficit as much as possible next year in order for it not to exceed the threshold prescribed by EU regulations.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron asked the government to introduce a number of measures aimed at resolving the social and economic crisis in the country that provoked a wave of mass "yellow vest" protests. The measures could cost the country up to $11.4 billion, and French Finance and Economy Bruno Le Maire did not rule out that this could also see France's budget deficit hit 3 percent of the national GDP in 2019, which is the limit set by the EU monetary regulations.
"It is not impossible that France's budget deficit would exceeds3 percent, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced it yesterday himself. It is not impossible ... according to our [EU] rules, that there is a limited overshoot [of the budget deficit above the 3 percent threshold] ... What we really want is for this overshoot to be limited as much as possible," Moscovici said, speaking in front of the members of the French parliament's upper house.
According to current expectations, France's budget deficit may reach 2.8 percent of the national GDP in 2019. According to the EU monetary rules � the Stability and Growth Pact � the deficit must not exceed the 3 percent limit, but an overshoot could be tolerated if the deficit remained below 3.5 percent and only for a limited period of time.
