Business

Published: Thursday July 5, 2012 MYT 8:09:00 AM

France trims 2012 financing needs to 180 billion euros


PARIS: The French state has cut its financing requirement this year to 180.3 billion euros, from a previous estimate of 184 billion euros, following a revised 2012 budget on Wednesday, the Agence France Tresor (AFT) debt management agency said.

AFT said in a statement that other cash resources had been revised upwards by 3.7 billion euros to 7.9 billion euros because it had been able to sell bonds this year below their coupon yields.

Despite a record high level of debt, France has been borrowing recently at historically low levels as investors seek the relative safety of French debt with the promise of richer yields than those offered on German bonds.

The AFT said it would sell fewer BTF Treasury-bills than previously expected and that the amount of medium- and long-term issuances net of buybacks would remain unchanged at 178 billion euros.

France has so far completed two-third of its medium- and long-term issuances.

AFT expects the amount of outstanding BTFs to stand at 170.1 billion euros at the end of the year, or 12.2 percent of the total French state debt on the market.

The amount stood at 177.8 billion euros, or 13.5 percent, at the end of 2011.

France's new government announced 7 billion euros in tax hikes on Wednesday in order to close a shortfall in its 2012 budget caused by weak growth, in an effort to keep its deficit targets on track. - Reuters

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