国际英语新闻：France's 2011 budget draft holds promises, risks

PARIS, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- France, eager to be in line with European safe threshold of budget gap, eyes low public spending next year to save enough to narrow the deficit and quicken growth. But the newly released state 2011 budget draft also brought critics doubting if the government plan was much too optimistic.

France wants to accelerate growth to 2 percent next year from an expected 1.5 percent in 2010. The gross domestic product (GDP) is set to expand 2.5 percent by 2014, according to its 2011 budget draft.

With an uNPRecedented move over five decades, the Europe's second power pledges to save 100 billion euros (139.2 billion U.S. dollars) during the next three years in a hope to cut budget deficit from a forecasted 7.7 percent this year to 6 percent in 2011 and 3 percent in 2013.

"It's a courageous and determined budget. We never did that, we never had the ambition and determination to reduce the deficit by two points," Christine Lagarde, French economy minister told Europe 1.

"There is no reason to not achieve a 2-percent growth in 2011," she added to the local radio channel.

According to 2011 budget draft, debts would represent 86.2 percent of the country's national wealth from 82.9 percent expected at the end of this year with the value of state deficit to reach 92 billion euros (128.1 billion U.S. dollars) next year from a forecasted record deficit of 152 billion euros (211.6 U.S. dollars) in 2010.

With the aim, the government is working hard to boost state receipts by expanding growth and freezing public spending over the coming three years. It targets to cut an average of 34,000 jobs in public services to alleviate the burden of budget gap.

"This is a historic budget. We are saying good-bye to years of public budget increases ... such a step has never been seen in 50 years,"commented Budget Minister Francois Baroin.

However, uncertainties are likely to shadow the plan as local economists and politicians fear that France will not achieve its commitments and reach the European financial standards, at least in an easy way.

The International Monetary Fund expected France growth to be at 1.4 percent this year and at 1.6 percent next year. The organization expected budget deficit to stand at 3.9 percent in 2013 above the government objective.

"Growth estimation is based on very optimistic assumptions, not only for 2011 but also for the coming two years. The government's plan will be efficacious for a certain time so I think officials will need to take other measures for the next budget to meet the announced targets," said an economist at PNB Paribas who refused to be named.