French welfare deficit higher than planned says minister

FranceFrance's social security deficit, a component of the overall deficit figure measured by the EU, will hit 11.7 billion euros this year instead of an originally forecast 9.8 billion, health minister Marisol Touraine said, reports Reuters.

Touraine announced the figure ahead of the presentation on Monday of the 2015 welfare budget, which itself comes two days before Wednesday's presentation in parliament of the overall 2015 budget.

In 2013 the social security deficit stood at 12.5 billion euros. Touraine told France Inter the 2015 budget would not include a freeze in the level of welfare outgoings or a reduction in the level of reimbursements for treatments.

Read more of this report from Reuters.