金融英语阅读：France narrows budget gap 14 percent in July

会计考友

　　PARIS, Sept. 8 -- France saw its budget gap narrow to 93.1 billion euros (118.3 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of July from 108.8 billion euros (138.4 billion dollars) a year ago, in line with government efforts to trim the double-digit deficit, the Budget Ministry said Wednesday.
　　Government revenues expanded to 159.7 billion euros (203.1 billion dollars), up by 19.35 percent as tax revenues totaling 146.9 billion euros (186.8 billion dollars) after they had been at 123 billion euros last year on positive impact of fiscal stimulus and a recovery in economic activity.
5 c( c( K* @# u: _% C* {% H　　In July, the value of spending expenses was at 236.1 billion euros (300.1 billion dollars) from 215.2 billion euros (273.5 billion dollars) in the same period in 2009, with the gap shrinking by 14 percent year-on-year to 93.1 billion euros.
5 j6 a: m7 H- [　　France, eager to trim budget gap, pledges to freeze public spending over the coming three years and cut an average of 34,000 jobs in public services to alleviate the burden of budget gap.
　　The second European economy eyes a 3 percent deficit of the gross domestic product by 2013 from an expected 8 percent this year. However, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), France is unlikely to reach its fiscal targets as it estimates the country' s budget deficit to stand at 3.9 percent in 2013.