2023-10-20 22:46:09
The rating agency Moody’s indicated on Friday October 20 that it had not updated France’s credit rating, in the midst of studying the 2024 budget in Parliament. The Aa2 rating, one of the best possible, is retained and the outlook remains stable, which means that the agency is not considering changing its rating on France’s debt for the time being. No further rating reviews are listed in Moody’s latest schedule.
For the Ministry of the Economy, this lack of update means that the agency confirms its Aa2. “Moody’s decision to maintain France’s rating demonstrates the credibility of the French sovereign signature”reacted Bruno Le Maire in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “It reinforces our desire to continue France’s debt reduction and to respect the trajectory defined by the President of the Republic, and materialized by the public finance programming law”he added.
Moody’s specifies for its part that its press release does not “does not constitute a publication of a formal rating decision”.
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A debt of more than 3,000 billion euros
The government was forced, on Wednesday, to take responsibility for having the “revenue” part of the 2024 budget adopted in Parliament, with the opposition immediately announcing two motions of censure, which were rejected late Friday evening. The text of the 2024 budget provides for total state spending of 491 billion euros, excluding debt charges, and a public deficit of 4.9% of GDP this year, then 4.4% in 2024, largely outside the European nails.
To straighten out the public accounts from 2024, the government has ruled out tax increases and is instead banking on growth, with a forecast of 1.4% considered “high” by the High Council of Public Finances, and on the end of exceptional support measures for households and businesses. Debt exceeded 3,000 billion euros in the first quarter and France plans to borrow a record amount of 285 billion euros on the markets in 2024.
Moody’s was the first of the three main rating agencies to look once more this year at the French rating, before Fitch on October 27 and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on December 1. In April, Fitch lowered France’s credit rating by one notch to AA – (a rating which nevertheless remains very high), accompanied by an outlook « stable »which was seen as a warning shot.
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