French Finances Though 33 hours after its appointed time, the
French- Budget was eventually approved this week, without great opposition, and perhaps with less apprehension than for several years. The final estimates for the ordinary Budget showed a small surplus of about 37,000,000 francs. This excludes, however, the special Budget and other items of expenditure which the Treasury will have to meet in 1938. M. Bonnet's estimate of such expenditure was 26,000 million francs and Treasury borrowing would be limited to 20,000 million francs. M. Reynaud, however, claimed that M. Bonnet had both underestimated expenditure and overestimated revenue and gave 46,000 million francs as the figure for the special Budget. Undoubtedly M. Bonnet's confidence depends very largely on an expected increase in business activity, both for loans and for revenue ; and though he has succeeded in repatriating much French capital that had left the country, it has not yet found investment in business. Whether it does, depends on the Government's ability to maintain confidence and to control the labour situation, and there are good reasons for thinking it can achieve both these objects.
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