French more in debt than Italy

FRANCE’s debt mountain has swelled to become the largest in the eurozone, new figures show.

In a blow to president Emmanuel Macron, who was elected after promising to reinvigorate the economy, the country’s debt pile now stands at £2.359trillion. The latest figure for the first quarter of 2019 showed France had overtaken financially-stricken Italy.

However, France’s debt as a percentage of its economy is lower than the worst performers.

Greece has debts of £337.4bn, or 181.9pc of its annual output, while Italy has debts of £2.358trillion, or 134pc of its economy. France’s figure, by comparison, is at 99.7pc.

Britain’s debt ratio is the second lowest in Europe at 85.3pc, behind Germany on 61pc.