The Cour des comptes (the French Court of Auditors) is making its report public on the French government’s budget in 20171, along with 66 analyses on execution of the budget.
Budget execution in 2017 saw stronger economic growth than expected by the Initial Finance Law (LFI). In spite of the resulting large increase in revenue, the deficit only fell very slightly due to a nearly equal increase in expenditures. These increased expenditures resulted, on the one hand, from the decision in the LFI to increase spending by €5.9 billion (on a like-for-like basis) and, on the other hand, from the need to attend to risks identified by the Cour mid-year, in June 2017. These risks were particularly related to under-budgeting, amounting to €6.4 billion.
The execution of the government’s budget in 2017 also exposed several risks and weaknesses affecting the quality of management and its compliance with major budgetary principles.
