France’s public debt rose again in early 2025, reaching just over €3.35 trillion at the end of the first quarter – 114 percent of GDP – official figures showed on Thursday, reports RFI.
The government now says it needs to find another €5 billion in savings to rein in the ballooning deficit.
billion since the end of 2024. France now has the third highest debt in the EU after Greece and Italy.
The current debt level is double what it was in 1995, when it stood at 57.8 percent of GDP. The rise has been fuelled by financial shocks, the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent spike in inflation.
Last year, France’s deficit – the yearly shortfall in government revenues versus expenditures – was 5.8 percent of GDP, the worst in the eurozone.
Prime minister François Bayrou has pledged to bring it down below the EU target of 3 percent by 2029. The government forecasts 5.4 percent in 2025 and 4.6 percent in 2026.