PARIS: France’s public debt pile grew further in the third quarter, official data showed Friday, posing another challenge to new Prime Minister Francois Bayrou as he works on naming a government.
The eurozone’s second biggest economy added another 71.7 billion euros to its debt mountain, which now amounts to 3.3 trillion euros ($3.4 trillion), according to the INSEE statistics institute.
The public debt accounted for 113.7 percent of gross domestic product in the July-to-September period, up from 112.2 percent in the second quarter and well above the European Union’s 60 percent limit.
Bayrou on Thursday said he hoped to name a government to lead the country out of its political quagmire at the weekend, or by Christmas at the latest.
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France was plunged into fresh chaos earlier this month after the far right and left wing joined forces to eject Bayrou’s predecessor Michel Barnier from office, making his the shortest stint as prime minister in the Fifth Republic’s history.
Barnier’s time in office foundered on his minority administration’s failure to pass a state budget.
Any budget will have to shore up France’s shaky finances without triggering further censure from the far right or the left over spending cuts and tax rises to reduce the deficit.
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