France’s public debt increased to 3,536.1 billion euros at the end of the first quarter of 2026, to stand at 117.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), INSEE announced Thursday June 25.
This is an increase of 75.6 billion euros compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, when the public debt ratio was 115.7% of GDP, said the National Institute of Statistics. Debt fell by 23.6 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2025.
This figure is published while the French government, in search of a budget for 2027, will soon convene a public finance alert committee to take stock of the situation.
The second largest economy in the euro zone behind Germany, France is one of its budgetary dunces. It has the second highest deficit, at 5.1% of GDP in 2025, behind Belgium (5.2%). A level too high to allow it to stabilize its debt, the third highest (in relation to GDP) after those of Greece and Italy.
The government wants to display a virtuous trajectory: it has set itself the objective of a deficit of 5% in 2026, with a debt of 118.4% of GDP, before reducing its deficit below 3% in 2029, with a debt stabilized at 118% of GDP.
Four economists commissioned
The recovery of public finances is all the more complex as the government has promised to avoid tax increases in the 2027 budget. It has commissioned four economists to think about scenarios for the recovery of public finances from 2027, who should deliver their conclusions at the beginning of July.
In detail, in the first quarter of 2026, the State’s contribution to the public debt increased by 66.3 billion euros, after a drop of 22.6 billion euros in the previous quarter. The contribution of the various central administration bodies to the debt increased by 300 million euros, after falling by 200 million euros in the previous quarter.
The debt of local public administrations also increased (+800 million), but less sharply than in the previous quarter when it increased by 12.2 billion euros. The debt of social security administrations also increased, by 8.2 billion euros, compared to a decrease of 13 billion euros in the previous quarter.
