French 2016 state deficit comes in just below government target

PARIS (Reuters) - France's state deficit stood at 68.98 billion euros (60.61 billion pounds) in 2016, below the government's target of 69.9 billion euros set in its last budget bill, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Tuesday. The state deficit, part of the wider public deficit which also includes welfare and local authorities, stood at 70.5 billion euros in 2015. "This very good figure reinforces the view that we will meet our 3.3 pct public deficit target," Sapin told reporters. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Writing by GV De Clercq; Editing by Catherine Evans)