The France continues to widen its singularity on the debt side. In 2022, Paris has distinguished itself by the fact that national public administrations and private actors have reduced their debt much less than the euro zone average, according to a document published on Monday by the Bank of France. A worrying observation at a time of rising interest rates.
The study shows that all states have reduced their debt-to-GDP ratios, due to the dynamism of growth last year and therefore the increase in nominal GDP in the denominator; But the French effort appears much lighter. Thus, on average in the euro area, the general government debt ratio decreased by 3.9 percentage points to 91.6% of GDP at the end of 2022.
With a debt-to-GDP of 115%, Paris is among the worst performers in Europe, alongside Spain (120%) and Italy (155%). But, while these two states respectively reduced their debt to GDP by 5.1 and 5.5 points last year, France was content with a very small slimming cure, with the smallest decrease in the euro zone of 1.3 points.
The debt ratio of French non-financial companies is 154%
On the private side, the corporate debt ratio in the euro area stood at 117% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2022, down 5.1 points compared to 2021. In Spain, the decline even reached 12 points. On the other hand, it is limited in France to 1.4 points, bringing the debt ratio of French non-financial companies to 154%, against 109% for Germany, or 134% for Spain.
