Credit rating agency Fitch lowers France because of national debt

The rating agency Fitch has lowered France because of the high national debt. “Financials are weaker than peers,” Fitch said Friday, downgrading France by one notch from AA to AA-.

Still, the rating agency rated the outlook for the country as stable. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told AFP news agency that France would implement structural reforms.

A political stalemate and sometimes violent social movements posed a risk to President Emmanuel Macron’s reform plans, according to the rating agency Fitch. She warned that “lower growth prospects and weakened competitiveness” could lead to another downgrade.

Despite massive opposition, Macron pushed ahead with his pension reform, which included raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. The president points out that the changes are necessary to keep the pension system viable.

incomprehension of degradation

Finance Minister Le Maire said Fitch’s “pessimistic” assessment underestimated the impact of the reforms. He reiterated the government’s “perfect determination” to reduce the government deficit and debt.

“I think the facts contradict Fitch’s classification. We can and will continue to make structural reforms for the country,” Le Maire told AFP news agency on the sidelines of the meeting of EU finance ministers in Stockholm.

“We have a whole series of reforms ahead that will accelerate the transformation of the French economic model,” said Le Maire, referring to a “green industries” bill due to be introduced in a few days. (sda/afp)