France reports wider budget deficit in June

At the end of June, France reported wider budget deficit at 59.3 billion euros (79.32 billion U.S. dollars), up by 4.6 percent from the same month last year, the budget ministry said on Friday. The value of public expenditures rose by 5.9 percent to 196.2 billion euros over the period due to 4.9-billion-euro fund offered to help financing European Investment Bank and the European Stability Mechanism. However, the state spending remained in line with government's 2013 budget draft in which it targeted to trim the gap to 62.3 billion euros from 87.2 billion euros recorded last year, the ministry said. A 6.6 percent-growth of net tax receipts helped the country to collect high revenue which totaled 152.7 billion euros over the period, up 5 percent from June 2012. Citing improved economic activity, the Bank of France estimated growth to accelerate in the third quarter of 2013, in a sign that the end of the gloom likely to be in sight for French President Francois Hollande who had promised to eliminate the deficit at the end of his five-year term. (1 euro = 1.337 U.S. dollar)