PARIS (Reuters) - France is confident it will slash its public deficit down to 3 percent of GDP in 2015 despite the European Commission's more pessimistic forecast, a senior finance ministry official said on Monday.
The European Commission projected on Monday that France's deficit would yet again exceed the European Union's 3-percent-of-GDP ceiling in 2015, which raises the risk of possible sanctions by its EU peers.
But the government argues that its plans for billions in savings, together with growth it sees slightly stronger than the EU Commission does, will allow it to meet the target.
"The European Commission does not take all of our plans into account," the official in Finance Minister Michel Sapin's office told Reuters. "Our savings plan will allow us to bring the deficit down to 3 percent in 2015."
The European Commission said on Monday that France would cut its deficit from 3.9 percent this year to 3.4 percent of GDP next year.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Leigh Thomas)