Budget News

Paris - France will stick to the country's EU-set budget deficit reduction target, the new finance minister insisted on Tuesday, dismissing earlier indications that Paris was angling for a delay.

Lisbon - Portugal on Tuesday laid out savings designed to strip 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) from its budget in the latest step to trim its public deficit.

Washington - According to the U.S. CDC, less than $1 billion is spent globally on tobacco control, with 97 percent of the spending done by high-income countries. In contrast, governments worldwide collect nearly $133 billion in tobacco excise tax revenue each year.

Rome - Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hailed a "systematic revolution under way in Italy" Tuesday as he unveiled the government's plan to ease pressure on impoverished families through cuts to public spending.

Berlin - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned on Tuesday that turmoil in Ukraine could threaten Berlin's bid to produce a balanced budget next year.

Washington - Austerity budgets and public spending cuts are less critical to economic health as interest rates in the major advanced economies remain historically low, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

Paris - France's new Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday the "pace" of the country's deficit reduction would be discussed with the European Union.

Paris - France is way behind budget targets, new data shows, deepening a dilemma for President Francois Hollande over spending cuts which could split his allies, or doing a U-turn in dangerous defiance of the EU.

Paris - France's public deficit for 2013 stood at 4.3 percent, higher than the 4.1 percent forecast by the government, the newspaper Les Echos said on its website on Sunday.

Madrid - Spain reported Friday it had barely missed its deficit-cutting target for 2013, hailing the result as a significant achievement in a year of job-wrecking recession.The annual public deficit fell to the equivalent of 6.