France’s AAA rating under increased pressure as cost of borrowing rises

THE interest rate France pays to borrow money rose again yesterday — and along with it fears that the country will lose its cherished AAA credit rating.

Theoretically at least, that rating — the highest a nation can have — allows France to borrow money from the markets cheaply. But France pays more than other European countries that have a Triple A — like Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The yield on its 10-year bond — the usual yardstick for a country’s borrowing costs — rose 0.05 percentage points to 3.42%. That’s roughly twice Germany’s and well above the roughly 2% on 10-year US Treasury notes.