PARIS: The 2016 budget deficit in France amounted to 69.0 billion euro against 70.5 billion in 2015, said on Tuesday the Secretary of State for the Budget, which confirms published estimates mid- January.
The government originally assumed a 2016 budget deficit of 72.3 billion euro, a target lowered to 69.9 billion when the 2017 budget bill was introduced. Total government expenditure amounted to 376.2 billion euro last year, 0.5% less than in 2015 on a like-for-like basis.
Expenditures on the scope of the standard excluding debt charges and pensions amounted to US$294.8 billion, down US$2.8 billion from 2014 in constant format.
Personnel costs increased 1.3% year-on-year and the debt burden decreased by 1.6%. Revenues increased by 1.5% to 304.0 billion euro, of which 284.1 billion (+ 1.4%) for tax revenues.
