France cuts long-term growth projections

The French government has cut its economic growth projections for 2013, 2014 and 2015 to 2.0 percent annually from 2.5 percent, following the recent downgrade of its forecasts for this year and next year, footnotes in the 2012 social security bill showed.
The government had slashed its growth forecasts for 2011 and 2012 to 1.75 percent, from 2.0 percent and 2.25 percent respectively. Most private economists and international economic institutions are forecasting even weaker growth for the eurozone's second-biggest economy in 2011 and 2012 than the government.
A stream of steadily deteriorating economic data in recent months has forced the government to unveil a 12 billion euro ($16 billion) package of budget savings necessary to meet France's deficit-reduction targets in the face of slowing growth. President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government has pledged to cut the deficit from 5.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2011 to 4.5 percent in 2012 before bringing the shortfall in line with an EU-imposed limit of 3 percent in 2013. Under the social security bill, the welfare deficit is due to fall 24 percent in 2012 from 2011 to 13.9 billion euros thanks to a clampdown on tax breaks, cutbacks on costly medicines and a boost to the workforce from a higher retirement age.