French public deficit likely to reach 3.5% of GDP in 2016, 3.2% in 2017

France's public deficit has improved in the first three quarters of 2015. The main reasons for the improvement are a sharper drop in public investment and a lower debt servicing costs. Both the factors are likely to drop by 0.15pp of GDP in 2015.

"We have revised our public deficit forecasts for 2015 to 3.7% of GDP (previously 3.9%), down from 3.9% in 2014. Looking ahead, our forecast is that the public deficit will stand at 3.5% of GDP in 2016 and 3.2% in 2017", says Societe Generale.