France's economic activity should return to its pre-crisis level by the end of the year, not the beginning of next year, says Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in an interview published in the Sud-Ouest newspaper.
The return of the economy to pre-crisis levels is expected by the end of 2021, announces the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, in an interview published in the Sud-Ouest newspaper on Thursday 19 August.
The government has raised its forecast of gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2021 to 6% in mid-July, compared to 5% previously, and "barring a health accident, we could find our pre-crisis level of activity faster than expected, at the end of 2021 and not at the beginning of 2022," said Bruno Le Maire, quoted by the regional daily.
40 billion in European funds
The minister also said that France would receive this Thursday the first funds from which it should benefit under the European recovery plan. "This Thursday, we will receive the 5.1 billion in subsidies from the European support plan," he announced.
In total, France should receive nearly 40 billion euros of European funds as part of the post-pandemic recovery plan of 750 billion euros of the EU, called "Next Generation EU" and will be partly financed by common European debt.