Why downgrade of France by Fitch indifferent … – Le Figaro

ANALYSIS – The markets have not shuddered after the announcement Friday night. The 10-year borrowing rates have never been so low.

On Friday night, in a sort of indifference, the agency Fitch degraded the -faisant France increased its rating from AA + to AA by combining it with a stable outlook mainly because of his bad government deficit figures. There are still a few years, the verdict of the rating agencies trembled. The world knew his biggest financial explosion thirty years and each country crossed fingers do not go under the knife of Moody’s, Standard & amp; Poor’s or Fitch, with the apprehension of an immediate increase in interest rates. And therefore more expensive debt to pay. This fear today is less … and even less in countries that serve as safe haven for investors. Because they not only have a comparative advantage over countries whose economies and public finances are more fragile, but also liquidity the European Central Bank injects now for many months, lowering the interest rate the euro area.

France is one of those countries. The first loss of the AAA of the hexagon was certainly a kind of earthquake – caused by Standard & amp; Poor’s in January 2012. But the shock was more psychological than financial. There has been, since no shaking. Friday night, the finance minister, Michel Sapin, was content to “take note” of the decision by Fitch and “maintain its course.” It must be said that the successive downgrades of the country by the three agencies for almost three years had no effect on the behavior of investors and the market. Degradation Friday night had this morning no impact on the markets: France is always rewarded with a borrowing rate to 10 particularly low (less than 0.80%)

A widely eroded impact

When the head of state recently welcomed that France ever, for weeks, borrowed at such low rates, it is not mistaken on one point: the economic and financial influence of rating agencies has largely eroded. Obviously not to the point of saying, as Arnaud Montebourg when he was at Bercy, they “are shorts boys who meet that put notes and have no credibility.” But the point that the small economic-financial world is waiting impatiently judgments.

However, the subject is politics. The decisions of the rating agencies have in turn served as a pretext for politicians squabbling between the right and the left, or let off steam in order to score points with the population, mostly defiant face of financial institutions. But beyond the games, it is the image of France which takes a beating every time it comes down to a walk. And the second largest economy in Europe, this is bad form …