Hollande: Growth May Exceed 1% This Year, Yet Unemployment To Remain High

(RTTNews) - France's economic growth is likely to exceed the official forecast this year, but may not be adequate to bring down the country's high unemployment, President Francois Hollande said Monday.

Official forecast for this year's growth is 1 percent and the country's jobless rate was 10.3 percent in the second quarter.

Growth is expected to reach 1.5 percent next year.

Hollande also announced tax cuts of more than EUR 2 billion for next year, which would benefit eight million households. These would be financed by more spending cuts that will be announced in the budget and hence, these will not affect the government's deficit reduction plans, he added.

"The tax-cut policy that was started in 2014 and widened this year will continue in 2016," Hollande said at a press conference in Paris.

The government's aim to reduce the country's budget deficit to 3.8 percent of gross domestic product this year and 3.3 percent next year are maintained, he said.