Insee Première · July 2024 · n° 1998

General government accounts in 2023 Revenues slowed down significantly, deficit increased

In 2023, the public deficit stood at 153.9 billion euros after 125.8 billion euros in 2022, representing 5.5% of the gross domestic product after 4.7%. Revenues slowed significantly and decreased as a share of GDP, mainly due to the weak growth of certain taxable bases and, to a lesser extent, new tax reduction measures. Although they also decreased as a share of GDP, expenditures slowed less; despite the decline in debt servicing costs, they were still driven by the general increase in prices and indexed benefits. The general government deficit was mainly driven by central government. However, the deficit of local governments widened, while social security funds increased their surplus. Public debt stood at 109.9% of GDP, after 111.2% in 2022.