France's Le Pen promises real boost to salaries, not one-off grants

PARIS - French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said in an election debate with President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday that if she is elected president on Sunday, her government will give a permanent boost to salaries, not one-off grants.

"In real life, when you ask a bank for a loan, they ask about your salary, they laugh at your grants. I propose to increase wages," Le Pen said. "All you do is hand out cheques ... my priority is to give French people their money back," she said.

In order to offset inflation, the French government last year decided to give low-income households an "inflation premium" of 100 euros to help mitigate the impact of rising energy prices and the higher cost of living.