The French government sent a 2024 spending plan to parliament that calls for a €4.2 billion ($4.7 billion) cut in outlays as it pushes to reduce the deficit, even as it ramps up allocations for the green transition.
The decline in overall spending is 3.5% in real terms, once inflation is taken into account, a finance ministry official said. The biggest drop is in the amount dedicated to helping shield households and businesses from spiking fuel and energy costs.
France is targeting a budget deficit of 4.4% of gross domestic product for 2024, down from a goal of 4.9% this year. The aim is to bring that below 3%, the limit set under European Union rules, by the end of Emmanuel Macron’s second term as president in 2027.
Still, the government will allocate €7 billion next year to fund the green transition. The money will go toward renovating public office buildings and housing, cutting carbon emissions from industry and agriculture, and supporting railroad infrastructure, among other areas.
The government also will boost spending on security, the justice system, national education, and higher education and research.
At the same time, it plans to crack down on what it deems to be fraud. The budget bill will include a clause allowing the government to go after abuses in transfer pricing by multinationals, said the official, who declined to be cited by name ahead of the public release of the plan. Transfer pricing refers to transactions among units of the same company that are located in different countries.
