Lecornu was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month to succeed Francois Bayrou, who was ousted by parliament in a fight over his austerity budget after just nine months on the job.

Figures from the INSEE statistics agency show Lecornu, the former defence minister, now faces a debt that amounted to 115.6% of France’s gross domestic product in the second quarter.

The debt is up from €3.3 trillion in March, which was equivalent to 113.9% of GDP.

Lecornu has yet to form a new government and must deliver a budget proposal to parliament by mid-October.

Unions have announced fresh demonstrations for Oct 2 after hundreds of thousands of people protested across France last week over Macron’s austerity plans.

Lecornu, Macron’s seventh head of government since 2017, has vowed a break from the past in a bid to defuse the political crisis.

He has tried to calm anger by promising to abolish life-long privileges for former prime ministers and Bayrou’s plan to scrap two public holidays.

Bayrou had proposed a series of measures he said would save €44 billion (US$52 billion) to curb France’s high debt.