It would be a miracle for France to retain its triple-A credit rating, threatened by the eurozone debt crisis, the head of its main market regulator said on Tuesday.
"Keeping it would amount to a miracle, but I'd still like to believe it," said Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the outspoken head of the AMF regulation agency.
Ratings agencies have warned that France is exposed to the sovereign debt crisis gripping southern Europe and have threatened to downgrade its hitherto perfect rating.
The government has protested that it has embarked on an austerity programme backed by a pact with fellow eurozone members to guarantee deficit reduction.
"I find it wholly regrettable that we are accepting the loss of our triple-A with a kind of fatalism. This loss is not banal, because it will have an effect on the interest rates the state pays," he said.
He also warned that if France was downgraded it would weaken the status of the European Financial Stability Facility and the European Stability Mechanism, two instruments set up by eurozone leaders to confront the crisis.
Any suggestion that France's debt of 1.7 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) is becoming unmanageable could send the interest rate it pays on bonds soaring.
Earlier, the French treasury announced that it would need to raise 178 billion euros ($232 billion) in medium and long-term bonds next year.
The Fitch credit rating agency also warned on Tuesday that the eurozone's new bail-out fund could lose its triple-A debt status.
"Fitch Ratings says the 'AAA' rating on debt issues of the European Financial Stability Facility largely depends on France and Germany retaining their 'AAA' status," the company said in a statement.
"The revision of the rating outlook on France to 'negative' last Friday implies that the risk of a downgrade of EFSF debt has increased," it said.
Last week, Fitch "affirmed France's 'AAA' status but warned that there is a slightly greater than 50 percent chance of a downgrade within the next year or two.
"France is the most exposed of the 'AAA' euro member states to a further intensification of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis," it added.
Another agency, Standard and Poor's, has warned that it is re-examining France's rating and it is expected to announce a downgrade soon.
It would be a miracle for France to retain its triple-A credit rating, threatened by the eurozone debt crisis, the head of its main market regulator said on Tuesday.
No matter what the French will still keep their AAA backstabbing whore rating. It's in their genes.
Mark Twain ......"France has usually been governed by prostitutes."
Last week, Fitch "affirmed France's 'AAA' status but warned that there is a slightly greater than 50 percent chance of a downgrade within the next year or two.
Ok, be ready ffers, you'll have to write thread about our triple AAA during at least one year, or two...
re: 'Miracle' if France keeps triple-A ratingen>frfr>en By NikosAliagas Comments: 988, member since Sun Jul 15, 2007
On Tue Dec 20, 2011 04:09 PM
EuropeIsOurs wrote:
Last week, Fitch "affirmed France's 'AAA' status but warned that there is a slightly greater than 50 percent chance of a downgrade within the next year or two.
Ok, be ready ffers, you'll have to write thread about our triple AAA during at least one year, or two...
We were supposed to get downgraded before X-Mas... Still waiting...
Mark Twain was a drunktard who wasted his time in bars.
But so was that idiot Hemingway- who wasted a lot of his time with Frog midgets in Flinch cafes, writing idiotic tributes and platitudes about the equally drunk and undisciplined Maquis.
re: 'Miracle' if France keeps triple-A ratingen>frfr>en By VAVD Comments: 2619, member since Wed Nov 25, 2009
On Sun Dec 25, 2011 03:33 PM
Sorry, Malbarre, I've pledged to be nice to you stinkies Frenchmen through Christmas, so I can't respond in my customary fashion. I'm saddened to see that you haven't ascended to the lofty moral plane that I inhabit.
It's almost the 26th in France though, so hold tight.
re: 'Miracle' if France keeps triple-A ratingen>frfr>en By LTKilling Comments: 6965, member since Sun Aug 14, 2005
On Sun Dec 25, 2011 06:27 PM
Edited by LTKilling (77700) on 2011-12-25 18:27:51
Edited by LTKilling (77700) on 2011-12-25 18:28:33
Edited by LTKilling (77700) on 2011-12-25 18:29:15
![:]](/images/blue/emoticons/joy.gif ":]")
, (made with "tripes" (intestines) of Jew porks !).
