France’s Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said the government may raise the country’s retirement age beyond 60 as part of a plan to stem the deficit in the nation’s pay-as-you-go pension system.

“We’re going more or less toward an increase in the retirement age which might exceed 60,” Estrosi said on RTL radio today. “The decision isn’t made,” and “retirement at 60 isn’t necessarily over.”

Labor Minister Eric Woerth, who’s in charge of presenting the pension overhaul next month, said today on BFM television that the government has yet to decide whether to increase the retirement age or to raise the number of years worked in order to be entitled to a full pension.

To plug the pension shortfall, the government is also considering using a national reserve pension fund of 33 billion euros ($41 billion), which is designed to disburse funds only from 2020.

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