Excluding COVID-19 crisis, the increase in public expenditure was less strong than under the previous three five-year. But the executive quickly deviated from the commitments made in 2017, especially after the crisis of “yellow vests”.
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The word “savings” is pronounced not less than a dozen times. In an interview granted to ECHOS, in February 2017, the candidate Emmanuel Macron unveiled an ambitious trajectory of public finances registering, already, in a “new growth model”.
“The weight of public expenditure must be gradually brought back to the euro area, explained the one who was still a minister of the economy six months earlier. I therefore expect a decrease of three points from the expenses. In national wealth. This represents 60 billion economies in relation to the trend. “And to unfold its objectives: In addition to the tens of billions of annual rhythm economies, public expenditure brought back under 52% of GDP in 2022, a Public deficit reduced to 0.5% of GDP, and 120,000 job cuts in the public service.
At the time when the head of state has just formalized his candidacy for a second term, and evokes in a “letter to the French” the main lines of his economic project – “We will have to work more and continue The decline in taxes weighing on work and production “- the table is significantly different.
Even without taking into account COVID-19, which forced the government to open large budget valves, the advertised slimming cure has not been as drastic as expected. Excluding emergency expenses and stimulus related to the health crisis, and excluding debt burden, the level of public expenditure is 60 billion euros over five years to what was provided for in the Public Finance Programming Act For the period 2018-2022, an increase of 5%, point The report of the Senate Finance Committee on the budget project 2022.
” The same story every time “
Adopted in the fall of 2017, the Public Finance Programming Act, which sets the five-year budget trajectory, provided for a rate of reduction in the public deficit by 0.3 point per year on average. But the executive quickly diverged.
After savings in 2018 and 2019, including housing (€ 2.5 billion in savings on housing aid reform) and on work (nearly $ 3 billion from the reduction Of the number of contracts assisted), he had to mobilize significant sums to deal with the crisis of “yellow vests” (about fifteen billions of euros, upwards and tax cuts in 2020), and renounce his Growth objectives, deleveraging, green taxation and deficit reduction. “Until 2019, the objectives of the programming law have been respected, and France emerged from the excessive deficit procedure in 2018”, recalls the Ministry of Budget.
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