French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has reaffirmed the government's commitment to reducing the budget deficit to 5% of economic output for the year 2026. This stance comes even as the economic outlook has deteriorated, making the target more difficult to achieve. A public finance committee meeting scheduled for June 30 will assess the additional savings necessary to meet this budgetary goal.
Lescure has also reiterated the government's long-term objective of bringing the deficit below 3% by 2029. This is in line with earlier statements in May where he emphasized this target despite the economic impact of the Iran conflict and a drop in French consumer confidence. While the upcoming budget for next year is not expected to include tax increases for individuals or businesses, there is a possibility that France's National Assembly or Senate might debate implementing an exceptional tax on energy giant TotalEnergies SE to help achieve these fiscal objectives.
The commitment to the 2026 deficit target was also previously mentioned by France's budget minister in April, who stated it was too early to set a more ambitious reduction goal, despite a narrower deficit of 5.1% in 2025 (down from 5.8% in 2024). This reduction in 2025 was partly attributed to one-off elements, and concerns remained about the macroeconomic impact of the Iran conflict on 2026. The government continues to stick to these deficit targets even though new plans in April were based on lower growth forecasts for the next three years, which makes the goal of controlling public finances more challenging.
