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France narrows budget gap by 5.1 pct in July

Xinhua, September 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

France's budget deficit narrowed by 5.1 percent at the end of July due to falling public expenditure, data released by the budget ministry showed Tuesday.

The French budget gap stood at 79.8 billion euros (89 billion U.S. dollars) compared to 84.1 billion euros registered in the same month the previous year, the budget ministry said.

Public spending over the period was 229.3 billion euros in total, down from 233.5 billion euros reported last year, but in conformity with the government's 2015 financial roadmap, the ministry said.

A 2.3-billion-euro rise in French net tax receipts helped the country to collect 173 billion euros, up 1.7 percent compared to July 2014.

Last April, France, under pressure to honor its fiscal commitment, announced an additional 4 billion euro cut in public spending this year and a cut of an extra 5 billion euros in 2016.

For 2015, the ruling Socialists have previously pledged to save 21 billion euros to trim budget gap to 3.8 percent from an initial target of 4.1 percent of France's GDP.

They want to save 50 billion euros by 2017 by squeezing spending of local authorities and reduce public spending of social security. (1 euro = 1.115 U.S. dollars) Endit