French central bank governor urges more reforms to meet growth targets

The governor of Banque de France (BdF), Francois Villeroy de Galhau, called on Socialist Party officials on Wednesday to step up reforms register robust growth and start reversing the rising joblessness trend.

"Beyond monetary policy, we regularly remind European governments, including France, that it is necessary to expand reforms," the BdF boss said.

Villeroy de Galhau, who is also a European Central Bank governing council member, urged the government to keep up with labor reforms to better handle the tricky unemployment issue.

"France can and must do better to eliminate unemployment," he told the daily newspaper Ouest France.

"Unemployed and young people don't have time to wait for various political timetables. That's why it's necessary to keep going with a certain number of reforms like labor costs, for example," he added.

He noted that the government's proposed reforms, such as the responsibility pact and the "CICE" tax breaks to boost competition, were a step in the right direction, adding that the eurozone's second main power had "many assets to face European and global competition."

Based on a favorable global climate, mainly due to the oil price, a weak euro, and an expansionary monetary policy in the euro area, the BdF estimated a 1.2-percent rise in French national output for all of 2015, above the government estimate of 1.1 percent.

The bank predicted French growth would stand at 1.8 percent in 2016 and 1.9 percent in 2017. Endit