On Tuesday, the Finance Minister of France Bruno Le Maire said that the French government is lowering the country’s 2023 economic growth outlook. However, he asserted that there is no need to revise the budget deficit target.

Now, growth in the euro zone’s second-biggest economy is likely to slow from an estimated 2.5% this year to 1% next year.

Finance Minister further said that the government is keeping an optimistic growth forecast, but it is still adjusting it to reflect the reality of the international situation, the energy market tensions and trade partners’ difficulties.

Despite the weaker outlook, he stated that abandoning the country’s plans to reduce its public sector deficit from an estimated 5% of economic output this year to less than 3% in 2027 was not an option.

Consequently, the government would stick to plans for a deficit next year of 5% of GDP thanks to expectations for higher corporate tax revenues and the scrapping of a tax on companies’ turnover over two years rather than one.