France's budget widens to $17bn

France's budget gap widened by 300 million euros to 12.8 billion euros (16.76 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of January due to a morose economic climate, the French Budget Ministry said Friday. French revenues reached 21.9 billion euros, down 6.4 percent from the same month in 2012 due to less tax revenue that was impacted by the economic downturn, according to the ministry's statement. "Forecasts of growth and revenue will be updated at the stability programme to be presented to the parliament in mid-april," it added. Public expenditure in January was 32.1 billion euros in total, slightly down from 32.8 billion euros reported in the same month last year, in line with the government forecast. Despite the Socialists' effort to squeeze spending by 38 billion euros to realize promises of deficit-cutting to 3 percent, an ailing economy threw a spanner in plans to put France's finances in order. According to the European Commission, France's deficit gap will widen by 3.7 percent in 2013.