Despite a faltering growth and still-rising unemployment, French Socialist President Francois Hollande is banking on his "historic" economic measures to get the ailing economy out from a recession and to achieve financial targets that analysts say are over optimistic.
In a traditional TV interview on France 2 and TF1 channels to mark the National Day on Sunday, Hollande stressed that "the economic recovery is here," arguing that a slight pick-up in industry output and consumption showed that the end of the crisis was in the air.
He added having "an already insurance that the second quarter will be better than the first."
But will France's 2.5 trillion -U.S.- dollar-economy which had not grown since the third quarter of 2011 show some muscles and defy the downbeat outlook?
Working to convince the nation that the economy is in its hands, Hollande's executive staff hoped tailwind will overcome headwinds thanks to their economic roadmap based on public spending squeeze, taxes rise on banks, big firms and the rich to help reduce the public deficit while pumping more funds into state-aided job creation.
In its recent economic report, the Bank of France revised up its gross domestic product forecast to 0.2 percent in the second quarter, citing a slight improvement in businesses in the short term. That would be music to the ears of Hollande who suffered a setback in his approval rating.
Blaming "persistent uncertainty and weakness of economic indicators,"the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its 2013 forecast for the second largest European economy to minus 0.2-percent from a previous forecast of 0.1- percent contraction.
It also pointed that high risks of persistent stagnation in the eurozone may taint the expected "gradual turnaround of economic conditions in the second half of this year."
On Wednesday, local media reported that the government will announce later on the day 3 billion euros in subsidy cuts and tax rebates as part of reforming measures designed to reduce public spending and meet European Uuion-mandated deficit targets which has been extended for two more years to reach 3 percent of French GDP.
Source: Xinhua
