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S&P Cuts France’s Credit Rating

Cites unemployment, low growth prospects.

Less than a year after losing its AAA status, the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is taking France down another notch, from AA+ to just plain AA. S&P said the current French government’s reforms to taxation and labor seem unlikely to increase its growth prospects or bring down unemployment. French finance minister Pierre Moscovici said the judgement was “critical and inaccurate,” and added that “never has a government carried out so many reforms in such a short time, and in such a difficult economic environment.” Only a few nations now have AAA ratings from all three agencies, including Germany, Norway, and Switzerland.