PARIS -- France was working to generate 14 billion euros (18.2 billion U.S. dollars) in spending cuts next year and in 2015 as it wants to tame the public deficit to 3 percent of economic output by 2015, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said Tuesday.
In an interview with the news channel BFMTV, Moscovici said "there will be a total of 14 billion euros in savings next year, the same figure in 2015."
"There will be 9 billion euros in savings already documented, and government expenditure will fall by 1.5 billion euros in 2014 ... We do not want to add austerity to the crisis. The government will maintain its priorities while keeping the deficit," the minister added.
The Socialist government aims to balance the country's finances squeezing public spending mainly by trimming ministerial budgets, cutting state aid to companies and reducing local government funding, Moscovici detailed.
In a recent report, France's audit office La Cour des Comptes saw the deficit of the eurozone's main powerhouse at 4 percent this year, a "reasonable" estimate according to Moscovici due to poor fiscal revenue and wane growth.
Targeting to reach 0.1 percent GDP growth in 2013, the government said it hoped to cut the budget deficit to 3.7 percent from 4.8 percent in 2012. (1 euro = 1.3 U.S. dollar)
