Two weeks ago, at the end of November, when many were expecting Moody’s to downgrade France’s Aa2 rating (after it was put on negative outlook in October), the rating agency chickened out as there was still hope that Macron might salvage some of the political chaos engulfing Europe’s second biggest economy, and well aware that telling the truth in Europe is very costly. Alas, after Marine Le Pen toppled Barnier’s government in a dispute over deficit reduction one week ago, Moody’s no longer could pretend that France is anything but a flaming dumpster fire of a political circus, and late after the Friday close, in a downgrade that came outside of Moody’s regular review schedule for France, Moody’s cut its rating of the euro area’s second biggest economy to Aa3 from Aa2, three levels below the maximum rating, and with a “stable outlook”, for now. Moody’s was the last holdout: France has already been cut to equivalent levels by Fitch and S&P.
The downgrade comes hours after President Emmanuel Macron named on Friday veteran centrist politician and early ally Francois Bayrou as his fourth prime minister this year. His predecessor Michel Barnier failed to pass a 2025 budget and was toppled earlier this month by left and right-wing lawmakers opposed to his 60 billion euro belt-tightening push that he had hoped would rein in France’s spiraling fiscal deficit.
The political crisis forced the outgoing government to propose emergency legislation this week to temporarily roll over 2024 spending limits and tax thresholds into next year until a more permanent 2025 budget can be passed.
The decision “reflects our view that the country’s public finances will be substantially weakened over the coming years,” Moody’s said in a statement. “Looking ahead, there is now very low probability that the next government will sustainably reduce the size of fiscal deficits beyond next year.”
“As a result, we forecast that France’s public finances will be materially weaker over the next three years compared to our October 2024 baseline scenario,” it added. […]
— Read More: www.zerohedge.com
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