French Government Readies Spending Cuts to Reassure Markets

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is pressing ahead with planned spending cuts as he seeks to reassure markets and the European Union of the country’s fiscal credibility despite the political uncertainty over the next government.

Le Maire said it is crucial to meet the objective of bringing the deficit to 5.1% economic output this year and within 3% by 2027. After already announcing spending cuts in February, he outlined another €10 billion ($10.8 billion) of savings that will come from capping the budgets of ministries, changes to a tax on profits of energy companies, and cuts at the local authority level.