France aims to cut its bulging public sector deficit below the European Union limit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product next year, Budget Minister Mr Alain Lambert said today.
Mr Lambert also said he was in favour of reducing income tax - a pledge reiterated by President Mr Jacques Chirac on Monday - but did not say when such a tax cut could be expected.
"Our aim is to be able to have a 2004 budget which brings us below 3 per cent of GDP," Lambert said on RTL radio ahead of a parliamentary debate on the 2004 budget later today.
France is under pressure from its EU partners to rein in its deficit after breaching the bloc's limit last year, when its deficit reached 3.1 per cent of GDP.
The European Commission has said France's deficit could hit 3.7 per cent in 2003 and 3.5 per cent in 2004 if Paris does not take measures to control it.
While aiming to cut the deficit, the centre-right government also wants to reduce taxes to foster growth amid an economic slow-down and stubbornly high unemployment, which stuck at 9.3 percent in April.
Mr Lambert said the slow-down had hit tax receipts. "Growth is not at the level we hoped for, which means it is producing fiscal receipts which are less than those we could have hoped for," he said.
Prime Minister Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin said last Thursday the government was targeting 2003 growth of between 0.8 and 1.5 per cent, after previously forecasting 1.3 per cent.