PARIS - The French government will propose combining or eliminating a third of government agencies by the end of the year in a bid to save money, the public accounts minister said on Sunday.

"We will, by the end of the year, propose in the budget that a third of state-backed agencies and operators that are not universities are merged or eliminated," Amelie de Montchalin, the public accounts minister, said in an interview with French broadcaster CNews/Europe 1.

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Doing so would save two to three billion euros, she said.

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Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's government has sought to cut the public sector budget deficit from 5.4 percent of economic output this year to 3 percent, the European Union's ceiling, in 2029.

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Finance Minister Eric Lombard has said the government will seek to cut 40 billion euros in spending in the next fiscal year.