French official public debt hits 91 precent of GDP

The French public debt hit 91 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of the year, data from the national statistics office showed on Friday. The debt, which includes national, local and welfare budgets, has climbed by 43.2 billion euros ($55.8 billion) since the end of March to a total of 1.833 billion euros at the end of June. It had stood at 89.3 percent of GDP at the end of the first quarter, already far above the theoretical eurozone limit of 60 percent. INSEE said the latest increase resulted from a rise of 51.3 billion euros in the national government's debt over the three months from April through June. Social Security costs declined meanwhile by 8.2 billion euros, while local debt levels rose by 400 million euros, roughly matching increases seen in the preceeding quarters, INSEE said.