Bank Of France Lowers Its Forecast For Economic Growth In 2024
Date
3/14/2024 12:07:53 AM
(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Alimat Aliyev
The bank of France, acting as the country's central bank, has
revised downwards its forecast for GDP growth in 2024, Azernews reports, citing foreign media
outlets.
The initial growth estimate was 0.9%, whereas now the French
Central Bank forecasts an increase in GDP of only 0.8%. This
revision is due to worse-than-expected economic growth in the last
quarter of 2023.
It is noteworthy that this estimate is noticeably lower than the
1% growth promised by the Ministry of Economy, Finance, Industrial
and Digital Sovereignty of France. However, at the beginning of the
year, the government was forced to sharply adjust the forecast laid
down in the budget for 2024, adopted without a vote in parliament.
Last year, the authorities expected the economy to grow by 1.4% in
2024.
The head of the economic department, Bruno Le Maire, admitted
that at the end of 2023, budget revenues turned out to be 4.4
billion euros less than the planned level, and also admitted that
the level of the budget deficit would be "significantly higher"
than the previously announced 4.9%.
Against this background, he promised to implement a plan to
reduce the costs of ministries by 10 billion euros. At a hearing in
the parliamentary committee, the minister-delegate responsible for
public accounts, Thomas Cazenave, clarified that in 2025 the
government will have to find a way to save 20 billion euros.
Inflation has been rising in France since the end of 2020. The
average annual growth in consumer prices in the country in 2023 was
4.9%.
MENAFN14032024000195011045ID1107975237
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.