France · General Government Net Interest Paid, IMF Projection (Palanor calculation from IMF data)

## What this measures

What general government pays in interest on its debt, net of the interest it earns on its financial assets, as a percent of GDP. Palanor calculates it from two IMF series: the primary balance (which leaves interest out) minus the overall balance (which includes it). France.

## Why it matters

The cost of the debt, not its size. Interest competes with every other line of the budget, and it climbs with a lag as old low-rate debt is refinanced at today's rates.

## How to read it

Higher means more of the economy goes to creditors. Above about three percent of GDP, interest starts to rival what governments spend on defense or education. Negative means the government earns more interest than it pays.

Each point is a calendar year, dated December 31. The first three points are the years before the WEO's own year, as published in that WEO (estimates and outturns, flagged forecast = false), so the line joins the history. From the WEO's own year on, every point is an IMF forecast (flagged forecast = true). Every point carries the WEO edition it comes from (vintage). The whole path is replaced when a new WEO is published, in April and October. Palanor does not compute statistics or records on this series and does not project it further.

## What it does not say

A Palanor calculation, not an IMF figure: rounding in the two published balances carries into it, and the IMF's own definition of net interest can differ slightly for a few countries. It excludes central-bank losses.

## Source

Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026 (the IMF's published database file, WEOOct2026all.xlsx). Transformation by Palanor: net interest paid is the IMF's general government primary balance minus its overall balance (net lending/borrowing), both % of GDP as published in the same edition. The IMF does not publish this series itself. Provided by the IMF "as is" and available free of charge from the IMF; the IMF does not endorse Palanor.