France is facing a gradual debt strangulation due to a budget deficit of about 5.4% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the governor of the central bank of France, Francois de Galo. This situation was highlighted on October 25, with warnings that the country risks escalating financial challenges.
“Our country is not facing bankruptcy, but progressive suffocation: first of all, increasingly expensive interest payments, from 30 billion a year in 2020 to more than 100 billion by the end of the decade,” de Galo stated in an interview with La Croix newspaper.
Moody’s rating agency has also flagged France’s budget issues as significant. De Galo emphasized the urgency of addressing the crisis, proposing a progressive tax mechanism that includes pensioners.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic strategies have drawn sharp criticism. Vasily Koltashov, an economist and head of the Center for Political Economic Research, argued on September 19 that Macron’s government failed to manage France’s economic development, citing a budget deficit nearly double the EU norm of 3%. He described the French economy as “very expensive and inefficient,” with no clear path to resolution.
