Coronavirus weighs heavily on public finances

That was to be expected. The coronavirus crisis, which has been hitting the French economy for almost two months, affected public finances in March. The state budget was in deficit by 52.5 billion euros on March 31 against 40.7 billion last year at the same time, notes the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts in the monthly budgetary situation , published Tuesday. "The first effects of the health crisis are observed in revenue and expenditure," confirms the ministry. In detail, Bercy indicates that tax revenues decreased by 5.8% compared to March 2019 while spending increased by 8.9%. This deterioration is partly linked to the measures provided for in the plan to support the economy of 45 billion euros adopted urgently at the end of March.

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Since then, with the containment and the impressive slowdown in activity, the situation has further deteriorated. During the month of April, the executive more than doubled its

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