According to figures published every day by the Agence France Trésor, which manages France's public debt, the rate on 10-year government bonds (OATs) reached 3.59% on December 11, after 3.61% the day before, the day after the National Assembly adopted the Social Security financing bill. This was the highest level in recent years and 0.3% higher than the rate observed at the beginning of the month. Does this market evolution reflect an increased mistrust of the French economy, when one could have legitimately hoped the opposite after the success achieved by the government?

Certainly not ...

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The publication of the 1st estimate of the growth of the French economy in the 4th quarter comes after several other very unfavourable indicators have been made public: a sharp rise in unemployment over the same period, the persistence of a trade deficit over the last twelve months close to 90 billion euros, the continued fall in housing starts (30% in two years) all in a context of accumulation of public deficits and record debt. The only good news concerns inflation: it rose to 1.4% in January over one year and makes France one of the best pupils in ...

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Usually, when we talk about deficit regarding the French economy, it is first the State budget one. We even were satisfied with its light reduction in 2022 compared to the initial forecasts. It has been revised downward and has so reached 147 billion when was expected at the end of last year a deficit near 170 billion. To the opposite the increase at an unprecedent level of the trade deficit, which is a much more revealing and worrying indicator of the weaknesses of the French economy, has given place to few comments. At the end of February, for the last ...

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