The extra steps taken to support economic activity in the face of the new lockdown in France will worsen the public debt, said the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien.

Debt forecast rises

The new confinement in force since Friday, October 30th, will have a considerable impact on the French economy. In an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien, the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, stated that the new set of decisions taken to support economic activity in the face of the new lockdown will worsen the French public debt. “We had forecast a debt level of 117.5% of GDP for 2020. This figure will rise to 119.8%”, he announced. According to him, the expenditure incurred will allow a rapid rebound and an acceleration of the transformation of the French economy to make it more competitive.

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20 billion euros released

Over eight weeks, €20 billion will be released to deal with the health crisis linked to the coronavirus outbreak, said Prime Minister, Jean Castex. This sum will be beside the nearly €470 billion already allocated since the beginning of the crisis in March. The strengthening of support measures for businesses will incur additional expenses. These will amount to 15 billion euros in November alone, Bruno Le Maire had already warned.