Fitch maintains France’s AA- rating and stable outlook, pointing to “a limited reduction in the budget deficit”

The Minister of the Economy reacted by saying he was “totally determined to restore France’s public finances”.

The rating agency Fitch has maintained the rating of French debt at AA-, six months after having downgraded it, as well as the outlook, considered stable, according to a press release published Friday October 27. If France can boast of having “a large, rich and diversified economy, strong and efficient institutions and macro-financial stability (…) its public finances, and in particular its high level of debt, constitute a weak point in its rating”, noted the agency.

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, took “act of Fitch’s decision” in a statement to AFP, saying “totally determined to restore France’s public finances”. Fitch, which currently gives France an AA- rating, one of the best possible, a sign that the country remains very credible in the eyes of the markets, however judged that the deleveraging trajectory was “limited”.

“The draft budget for 2024 and the multiannual program envisage only a limited reduction in the budget deficit, from 4.9% in 2023 to 4.4% in 2024”, details the rating agency. The latter adds that it expects a public deficit of 4.6% in 2024, due to a “lower estimate [que celle du gouvernement] of growth” and the “risk that savings (…) will not be made”.