The corrected budget project for 2020, presented by the government to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday November 4 and which confirms a more severe recession than expected, provides for 20 billion euros in additional spending, half of which will go to businesses and independents penalized by the re-containment.
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In its fourth amending finance law since the start of the crisis, the government has revised upwards the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the economy, with a recession expected at -11% against a decline of 10 % of GDP in the previous September forecast.
In question: the reconfinement in force since Friday and decided at this stage for a month, which will plunge activity again and strain the rebound of the third quarter, had already warned last week the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
To limit bankruptcies, in particular small businesses again forced to close despite their protests, the government is therefore putting an additional 20 billion euros on the table, which is in addition to the nearly 470 billion released since March (including more than 300 billion public guarantees).
According to Bercy, they correspond to the cost of a month of confinement (15 billion) and to a temporary extension of certain devices after deconfinement.
Main measure, the solidarity fund dedicated to small businesses and the self-employed is inflated by 10.9 billion in addition to the 9 billion already planned.
Its access has been significantly expanded and the amounts allocated increased.
The partial activity device is endowed with an additional 3.2 billion euros, after 31 billion already budgeted and more than 22 billion spent.
The government also provides for 3 billion euros in social security contribution exemptions, and 1.9 billion euros in new health spending within the framework of the National Health Insurance Spending Objective (Ondam).
Finally, accused of not doing enough to support the most modest, the government will pay exceptional bonuses to beneficiaries of the RSA, unemployed at the end of their rights and those under 25, which will cost 1.1 billion euros.
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Consequence: the public deficit should ultimately widen to 11.3% of GDP (against 10.2% estimated so far) and the debt soar to 119.8% in 2020, and no longer 117.5% as expected .
"
We agree to massively degrade our public finances, but ensuring that it is temporary
", assured the Minister of Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt this weekend in an interview with the Journal du dimanche.
The only optimistic note for the public accounts: tax revenues will be 2.7 billion higher than what had been envisaged in the latest forecasts.
The rebound in activity in the third quarter indeed boosted the inflow of VAT, income tax and corporate tax.
