Franceis seeking €10 billion in extra savings over the next three years, French budget minister Francois Baroin said today.
Mr Baroin is due to present a revised budget framework today for the coming years at a weekly cabinet meeting.
"The aim is to save an extra €10 billion from now until 2013," Mr Baroin told French daily Le Parisien in an interview.
France aims to bring its budget deficit to 6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 from 8 per cent this year.
Mr Baroin said the government's aim to not replace one out of every two civil servants taking retirement would represent savings of €3 billion.
The number of civil servants would fall by 100,000 to 2.3 million, the same as at the beginning of the 1990s, he said.
Out of the remaining seven billion euros in savings, two billion would come from cutting working costs, he said, adding that 1,700 public buildings would also be sold off to bring in around €300 million.
Mr Baroin ruled out tinkering with value-added tax on dining out, which was lowered a year ago to meet a long-standing demand from the restaurant sector and represented an unwelcome shortfall at a time of ballooning deficits.
Ministers had argued that the cut would boost the economy.
Streamlining and centralising administrative purchases and increased use of the internet would also help to whittle down spending, Baroin said.
Another €10 billion could be raised by reducing or eliminating tax exemptions and a decision would be made at the end of August, he added.
"Besides slashes of 10 per cent which have already been announced, certain tax exemptions will be done away with, pure and simple."
Reuters