Two months after the unpleasant surprise of the downgrading of France's sovereign rating by Moody's, French Prime Minister François Bayrou has avoided a new sanction: S&P Global Ratings announced, Friday, February 28, that it was maintaining its rating at AA-, the equivalent of a 17 out of 20, but revised the outlook to "negative" instead of "stable," suggesting that it could lower it in the coming months.

France, which S&P stripped of its supreme AAA rating in January 2012, has thus for the time being avoided being downgraded to "single A," a group in which it would join Spain and Portugal.

But the agency has sent a warning: Citing a "weak political consensus to tackle France's large current account deficits against a backdrop of more uncertain economic growth prospects," it said it could lower its rating "if the government fails to further reduce its large budget deficit over the next two years, or if economic growth falls below our forecasts for a prolonged period."

The Ministry of the Economy and Finance "took note" of S&P's decision, saying that the negative outlook "is a reminder of the scale of the challenge of restoring our public finances, a challenge that the government is determined to meet." The ministry added that it had taken "the necessary control and steering measures to ensure the execution of the 2025 budget and control the country's debt."

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