French FinMin Le Maire: Q1 2021 to remain difficult for the economy

“The first quarter of 2021 will remain difficult for the French economy,” the country’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said while speaking at the Reuters Online event on Thursday.

Further comments

I am confident that the second part of 2021 will be very good for the French economy.

Forecast for 6% growth this year is not out of reach, but we have to remain cautious.

I am not disappointed at the speed of vaccine rollout in France.

As long as the crisis lasts we will continue supporting the sectors hit by it.

Once the crisis is over we will have to think about the restoration of sound public finances.

We need to implement a very clear strategy to reduce the public debt.

The time to reduce public debt has not come, it will come after the crisis is over.

In France we need a pension reform for the sake of restoring sound public finances and for social justice.

Trade sanctions are at the top of my agenda with new US administration.

I don’t have any signals from the new US administration, but will travel to Washington as soon as possible.

The best case scenario for everyone would to have an agreement on both digital tax and minimum taxation at the OECD.

“I will not spare my efforts to convince the us administration that now it is time to get an agreement on international tax at the OCED.

Market reaction

The above comments have little to no impact on the EUR/USD pair, as it trades modestly flat at 1.2163, at the time of writing.