Tribune. Who are the creditors of France? The question may seem innocuous; She is not. It is almost impossible to answer this question today. Why is there no information in Parliament on this subject? Why are the Ministers of Bercy, when we ask them the question, do they cook in touch? Public sector retirees have the right to know who pays their pensions. Our millions of public officials have the right to know by which foreign central banks their salaries are paid.
The French think that the European Central Bank (ECB) buys the whole debt issued by France. They are mistaken because, about the 400 billion euros of public debt issued per year by France in 2020 and 2021, the ECB redeems only about half. A very large part is lent to us by the rest of the world.
The last figure published in September by the France Treasure Agence is of 49.5% of the negotiable French debt owned by non-residents . But according to the Minister of Public Accounts, in an intervention in the hemicycle of the National Assembly, on March 22, foreign investors “still represent 65% of the French debt holders once restated this effect of optics linked to the Monetary policy of the ECB “.
If we believe in the numbers circulating in Bercy, of the order of 250 to 300 billion euros of French debt would be held in China. Is this figure close to reality? Difficult to say, but this is questioning, knowing that the volume of securities held by the non-residents is about 1,300 billion (half in euro zone).
The weapon of Beijing
Certainly, China also has more than $ 1,000 billion in US public debt (a little less than 4% of the US debt before the CVIV-19 crisis), which makes certain that This claim is a weapon in the hands of China to negotiate with the United States. What can I say for France? Do we still have the right to get angry with China? It’s a real question. Even the most indebted countries, such as Japan or Italy, take good care of not internationalizing their debts, with 14% for Japan and 30% for Italy in the last quarter 2020. and the United States have Only 24% of their public debt held outside their borders, always at the end of 2020.
France is currently vogue around 3 000 billion euros of public debt. We will be 2,950 billion euros of debt end 2022. The levels of financing and refinancing of France are likely to become more problematic from 2023, with about 180 billion euros of old debts maturing this year. the. At the same time, the ECB should small to reduce the wing of its redemptions of public debt. Frankfurt has already announced an “slowdown” to come from its redemptions of assets.
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