(Bloomberg) -- France could extend the furlough program it created to protect jobs during the Covid-19 crisis, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday, indicating the government is ready to spend more than the 100 billion euros ($119 billion) unveiled in its stimulus plan earlier in the day.
“We will keep the furlough for the most exposed sectors — hotels, cafes, events — until the end of the year. If, after that, we still need to keep it, we will,” Le Maire said in an interview on France 2 television. “If the crisis gets worse and we need to do more for the least well off, we will.”
The stimulus plan presented by the government focuses on improving the competitiveness of industry, greening the economy and supporting the labor market. Opposition lawmakers have said it is skewed too much toward cutting taxes for companies, rather than boosting demand via support for households.
While saying the government could do more, Le Maire rejected that criticism, saying it had already provided massive support for incomes with 30 billion euros of spending on its emergency furlough program this year. France has also created a longer-term furlough mechanism coupled with training programs that will cost another 7.6 billion euros.
Le Maire said the support given to households had helped consumer spending pick up quickly during the summer and that the economy may contract less than the 11% the government has forecast for 2020.
“I think it will be better between now and the end of the year,” Le Maire said.
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