Moody's Holds France at Aa3, Keeps Negative Outlook as Downgrade Risk Persists - BigGo Finance

France has won a temporary reprieve in a highly tense round of credit rating reviews. Moody's announced on Friday, October 23, that it was keeping France's sovereign rating unchanged at Aa3, giving the eurozone's second-largest economy — burdened by heavy debt, mired in political gridlock and facing rising social unrest — room to breathe before borrowing costs deteriorate further. Still, Moody's did not offer a broadly optimistic signal. In its statement, the agency kept France's outlook at negative, pointing directly to political instability that will continue to constrain fiscal consolidation, and stressed that the Aa3 rating hold rests on the underlying assumption that France will ultimately adopt a deficit-reduction budget plan.