PARIS
The French finance minister announced Wednesday that France will miss a 2015 European commission deadline to bring its public deficit down to 3 percent, saying the country needs two more years.
“With growth and inflation weak, the deficit reduction we are planning for 2015 will be limited with a deficit around 4.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2015 and coming under the three percent threshold in 2017,” Michel Sapin told a press conference.
On Tuesday, the budget ministry revealed that France's budget deficit increased to 84.1 billion euros at the end of July 2014 - a deficit of more than 4 percent, exceeding the European limit.
"We are not asking for any change in EU regulations but we are asking to take into account the economic realities," said Sapin.
Last year, the European Commission, dissatisfied with the state of public finances in France, granted the country two years to reduce its budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2015 and zero percent after two years.
In April, French lawmakers approved a controversial plan - called the "responsibility pact" - to save 50 billion euros in order to reach its deficit reduction goal.
The initial budget law for 2014 was estimated at an annual deficit of 82.6 billion euros, a figure revised upwards to 83.9 billion in the amended finance law.
Sapin's announcement comes less than two weeks before the submission of the draft budget law for 2015.
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