France · General Government Gross Debt (IMF)

## What this measures

General government gross debt: all liabilities that require payment of interest or principal, as a percent of GDP. General government covers central, state and local government and social security funds. France.

## Why it matters

Debt sets how exposed a government is to higher interest rates and how much room it has in the next downturn. The IMF's definition is the one comparison that covers advanced and emerging economies alike.

## How to read it

Higher means more debt relative to the economy. Its direction and the interest rate paid matter more than the level.

Each point is one year's figure in the newest World Economic Outlook, dated December 31. The series stops the year before the WEO's own year; the IMF's forecast from there is a separate series (the same name with "IMF Projection"), so this line never mixes measured and forecast years. The newest year is often still an IMF estimate, and the whole history is revised with each edition.

## What it does not say

Coverage of government and of liabilities varies by country; the WEO footnotes each. Gross debt ignores the assets governments hold (see net debt).

## Source

Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026 (the IMF's published database file, WEOOct2026all.xlsx). Figures as published, rounded to at most four decimals. Provided by the IMF "as is" and available free of charge from the IMF; the IMF does not endorse Palanor.