French public debts rises to €1833.8bn

Public debt of France widened by 15.8 billion euros (20.25 billion U.S. dollars) to stand at 1,833.8 billion euros by the end of the fourth quarter 2012, official figures showed on Friday. As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), it peaked at 90.2 percent in the fourth quarter, 0.3 point higher compared to the third quarter 2012, the national statistics bureau INSEE said in its latest report. Furthermore, the net public debt rose by 32.2 billion euros, INSEE added. In the meantime, the French government public deficit reached 4.8 percent of the GDP, according to the official data. The government had projected a deficit of 4.5 percent of GDP, estimating its public debt would stand at 89.9 percent in 2012. Heavily plagued by climbing unemployment and sluggish economy, the Eurozone's second largest economy has admitted it might not fulfil its pledge of cutting public deficit of GDP to 3 percent in 2013, but suppose it stands at 3.7 percent.