French public debt reaches near 80.3% of GDP in Q1

French public debt continued to rise in the first quarter of this year, representing approximately 80.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the national statistics bureau Insee announced Wednesday. At the end of March, French gross public debt, amounted to 1,535.5 billion euros (1,877.1 billion U.S. dollars), up by 46.5 billion euros (56.8 billion dollars) from 2009's last quarter.

By ratio scale, the figure accounted to 80.3 percent of the GDP, 2.2 percent higher from the level of last quarter, Insee said. As to public net debt, the reading represented approximately 72.7 percent of the GDP, 1.6 points higher compared to the fourth quarter of 2009.

The rising debt was a result of the stimulus policies taken by the government after global economic crisis, Finance Minister Christine Lagarede and Budget Minister Francois Baroin said in a joint statement.

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