PARIS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- For the whole year of 2018, France's budget deficit stood at 76.1 billion euros (86.98 billion U.S. dollars), 4 billion euros less than the government's initial forecast due to boosted tax receipts, French Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, Darmanin hailed the improvement of the country's finances as the result of "the cautiousness of our revenue forecasts and the good execution of our strategy rein in public spending."
He also attributed the narrowed budget gap to "better-than-expected tax revenue" which had improved by 2.1 billion euros compared with the budget law's target.
That "reinforces the government's ability to keep the public deficit well below 3 percent of GDP in 2018, for the second consecutive year," the minister said.
In 2017, Europe's main powerhouse's deficit totalled 67.7 billion euros, reaching the lowest level since 2008.
Final last year's budget deficit figures will be released in March, according to the statement.
Respecting the EU deficit limit is the cornerstone of President Emmanuel Macron after France had broken several times a pledge to reach healthy finances. (1 euro = 1.143 U.S. dollar)
