France: French Economy to Grow 1.3% With a Pension Deal, Le Maire Says -by Phil Serafino

The French economy will grow 1.3% this year, the same pace as 2019, as long as a compromise is reached quickly with labor unions that are on strike over pension reform, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.

“The economic outlook for France is good and solid,” Le Maire told the newspaper. The economy has created more than 500,000 jobs since 2017, and unemployment should drop to 7% by the end of President Emmanuel Macron’s term in 2022, he said. The jobless rate was 8.3% in the third quarter.

Read more: French Economy to Grow 1.3% With a Pension Deal, Le Maire Says - Bloomberg

French Presidential Elections: Hollande to order France finance audit if elected

Francois Hollande

French presidential election frontrunner Francois Hollande said on Thursday he would order an audit of public finances if elected in May, a day after setting an ambitious timetable for implementing his tax-and-spend promises.

The Socialist candidate, leading conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in polls for a May 6 run-off, made the announcement hours before his rival was to present a costed manifesto in his uphill battle for re-election.

“We’ll have the Court of Auditors carry out an evaluation immediately … and freeze certain spending once we have the results,” Hollande said in an interview on Canal+ television.

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