France to double fund to help local authorities with Swiss franc surge

Paris

FRANCE will double a fund designed to help local authorities deal with structured loans, raising it to three billion euros (S$4.6 billion) following a surge in value by the Swiss franc, the Budget Ministry said on Tuesday.

Half of the additional 1.5 billion euros in the fund will be provided by banks and the other half by the state, an official at the ministry said. The funds will be available for 15 years.