French budget deficit to hit 9% of GDP this year - minister

The French government's budget deficit is set to hit a post-war record of 9% of economic output this year, the budget minister said on Monday in the second revision in less than a week.

Budget minister Gerald Darmanin said that financial shortfall would top the 7.6% flagged only last week after President Emmanuel Macron extended a nationwide lockdown until May 11.

"We are going from a deficit of -7.6% (of GDP) to a deficit of -9%. Our country has never seen such a deficit since World War Two," Darmanin told France Info.