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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katelew who wrote (220752)	2/24/2007 7:58:04 PM
From: mistermj	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

US debt to GDP ratio is right in line with accepted economic policy throughout the world. We are in the area of 65% ratio and coming down fast...with 60% considered optimal...including European countries. This isn't a problem except to fear mongering dummocrats. France's Breton says debt could fall to 60 pct of GDP by 2012 12.14.2005, 06:04 AM PARIS (AFX) - Finance Minister Thierry Breton said France's total debt, expected to reach 66 pct of GDP next year, could be brought down to 60 pct of GDP by 2012 with a combination of spending cuts and asset sales. 'Our fellow citizens should know that it is possible in a few years, if we give ourselves the means, to bring down the debt to less than 60 pct of the wealth created each year,' Breton said in an advance copy of an interview with French weekly Le Point, to be published tomorrow. Breton is scheduled to present this afternoon a report on the country's finances, prepared by former BNP Paribas chief executive Michel Pebereau, which points to a total debt burden of 1.1 trillion eur as of end-2005. The report is also expected to identify a further 450-900 bln eur of non-financial debt that is not taken into account when calculating the debt levels for the euro zone's Stability and Growth pact, which call for debt to remain below 60 pct of GDP. In the interview, Breton said France's debt could be cut to this level by the end of the decade, 'and at the latest by the end of 2012.' As part of this afternoon's presentation, Breton is expected to propose a law requiring the government to set out 5-year plans for reining in spending, including an obligation to freeze government spending in real terms every year. He may also announce a yearly programme for privatizations, in line with the government's sale today of its residual stakes in the country's three largest motorway operators. 'It would be important to set ourselves annual targets for the sale of non-strategic assets -- real estate, for example,' Breton told Le Point. For 2006, the government recently approved a budget that will result in total debt representing 66 pct of GDP, which would mark the fourth consecutive year that France's debt-to-GDP ratio has exceeded the limits of the stability pact. paris@afxnews.com js/joy forbes.com