Tomorrow, France could borrow even more cheaply on the markets. The quality of the French state’s credit rating should indeed improve following the upgrade by Standard & Poor’s of the country’s credit outlook, which moves from “negative” to “stable”.
Good news is not so frequent for the government, so obviously this upgrade by the rating agency, which was the first to downgrade France’s AAA sovereign rating, pleases the executive!
Because it is indeed the reforms implemented by the government that are being praised by S&P. “The enactment of the El Khomri law in August 2016, as well as the Macron law, will, in our opinion, help to support France’s competitiveness by partially reforming regulated professions,” explains the agency.
Difficulty of implementation
These two texts were particularly difficult to implement for the government — one will particularly recall the very intense social movement in the spring against the labor law. “The reforms undertaken are paying off since all the rating agencies are now confident in France’s prospects,” rejoices the Minister of Economy, Michel Sapin.
For S&P, these reforms are likely to produce “stabilizing effects on employment, growth, competitiveness, and public finances”.
Standard & Poor’s joins the chorus of other agencies which have also upgraded their outlook to “stable”. This should further improve the country’s situation in the debt markets; the state will be able to borrow even more cheaply.
