France's budget deficit stood at 69.6 billion euros (86.15 billion U.S.dollars) at the end of May, slightly up from 68.4 billion euros the same month a year earlier, the Budget Ministry said Friday.

The overall balance of execution through May degrades slightly compared to the same period last year, mainly because the pace of accounting transactions in expenses earlier this year was more sustained than last year, the ministry added in its monthly report.

At the end of May, French revenues reached 111.2 billion euros, up 2.2 percent from the same month in 2011 to an exceptional revenue for the allocation of authorizations to use radio frequencies.

In line with the government's forecast, public expenditure valued 159.5 billion euros billion in total over the period compared to 152.7 billion euros in the previous year.

France, the euro zone leading power wants to narrow its budget gap to 4.5 percent this year and to 3 percent in 2013 by cutting public staff and increasing tax on wealthy households and big companies. (1 euro = 1.237 U.S.dollar)