France has injected 18.2 billion euros (26.07 billion U.S. dollars) into the economy by late July this year, representing 65 percent of its economic stimulus package, Patrick Devedjian, minister in charge of the implementation of the recovery plan, said in an interview with French daily newspaper Le Monde.
"We have injected at the end of July, 18.2 billion euros into the economy, 65 percent of the sums provided for in the stimulus. This is a sharp acceleration since early June, we were up to 25 percent," said Devedjian during the interview, to be published on Aug. 25.
"This is particularly linked to the degree of compensation of part of the burden of VAT paid by local governments," the minister noted, adding that the state has actually paid 3.7 billion euros "instead of the 2.5 billion expected."
He believed that by the end of this year, 75 percent of the stimulus package would have been injected into the economy and 250,000 jobs would be saved.
In December 2008, French President Nicolas Saekzoy announced the economic recovery plan, which provided 26 billion euros in stimulus fund.
