France's Public Debt Hits 119% of GDP, Its Highest Level Since 1946

France's public debt climbed to 119% of gross domestic product at the end of June 2026, the country's highest debt burden in 80 years, according to figures released on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, by the national statistics agency INSEE. Total debt reached €3.5955 trillion, roughly $4 trillion, an increase of €59.6 billion ($67.6 billion) from the end of March, when the ratio stood at 117.5% in the first quarter. The second-quarter reading surpasses the 117.8% peak recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, per Le Monde as cited by Anadolu Ajansı, and lands just as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's government prepares to present its draft 2027 budget on Thursday.

What happened

INSEE's quarterly debt release showed that France's borrowing continued an unbroken upward run through the first half of 2026. The agency's data, reported by Xinhua, indicate that debt had already risen by €75.8 billion ($86.1 billion) in the first quarter of the year, meaning the stock of public debt grew by more than €135 billion across the two quarters. The end-of-June ratio of 119% is the highest recorded since 1946, in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.

The timing is politically sensitive. The figures arrived two days before the government was due to table its draft 2027 budget, and they land on a government that has already projected the debt trajectory to worsen. According to French Ministry of Economy and Finance data released on Sept. 19, as reported by Xinhua and Anadolu Ajansı, the government expects the ratio to reach 119.3% of GDP by the end of 2026 and 121.7% in 2027. Economy Minister Roland Lescure said on Sept. 21 that debt-servicing costs are expected to reach €91 billion in 2027, a figure Anadolu Ajansı highlighted in its coverage.

The debt level now stands at nearly double the 60%-of-GDP ceiling set by the EU's Maastricht Treaty, which has been in force since Nov. 1, 1993 and obliges euro-area member states to keep public deficits below 3% of GDP and public debt below 60% of GDP. Estonia's public broadcaster ERR reported that France's debt burden is "approaching the levels of Greece and Italy, while the country's economic growth has stalled."

Why it matters

France is the euro area's second-largest economy, and its debt dynamics matter well beyond its borders. A debt-to-GDP ratio of 119%, rising toward a projected 121.7% next year, places France among the most indebted large economies in the currency bloc and far outside the treaty framework it helped design. The €91 billion debt-servicing projection for 2027, stated by Economy Minister Roland Lescure, illustrates the fiscal squeeze: interest costs on that scale constrain what the 2027 budget can spend elsewhere, and each incremental rise in borrowing costs feeds directly into that bill.

The quarterly pattern also matters. Debt rose €75.8 billion in the first quarter and a further €59.6 billion in the second, so the deterioration is not a one-off revision but a sustained trend. The comparison with the 2021 pandemic peak of 117.8% is telling: that level was reached during an emergency of closed economies and emergency spending, whereas the current reading arrives, as ERR's reporting noted, with growth stalled rather than shut down. The draft 2027 budget, to be presented on Thursday, will be the first formal test of how the Lecornu government intends to reconcile its own projections with pressure from Brussels and from bond markets.

How it is being covered

The story is carried by 64 sources, with a centre-weighted split of 26% left, 30% centre and 44% right, and 17 of 23 factuality-rated outlets in the high or very high tiers, per Ground News. Among the cited outlets, Anadolu Ajansı leads with the historical 1946 comparison and the budget timing, while Xinhua frames the release around INSEE's quarterly data and the Maastricht limits. Ground News flags no blindspot, meaning the story appears across the spectrum, though the emphasis differs: the wires centre the statistics, while European coverage such as ERR's focuses on convergence with Greece and Italy.

What to watch

Three things follow from the release. First, the draft 2027 budget on Thursday: the government's own projections of 119.3% this year and 121.7% next year will frame the debate over spending and revenue measures. Second, the third-quarter INSEE debt figures, due later in the year, which will show whether the quarterly increases of €75.8 billion and €59.6 billion continue. Third, any reaction from the European Commission, since the ratio is now roughly double the Maastricht 60% ceiling and the deficit side of the treaty framework remains in play. Debt-servicing costs, projected by Lescure at €91 billion for 2027, will be the line item to track as the budget is debated.

By the numbers

Source snapshot