France braces for credit ratings cut

FRENCH leaders are girding for the loss of the nation’s top credit grade, with the central bank governor taking a swipe at Britain as he called debt-rating companies “incomprehensible and irrational”.

Standard & Poor’s said last week it may lower France by two levels in a eurozone downgrade stemming from the failure of the region’s leaders to arrest a debt crisis that began in Greece in 2009 and now presents the biggest threat to the world economy.

“A downgrade doesn’t strike me as justified based on economic fundamentals,” Bank of France governor Christian Noyer told Le Telegramme, a newspaper based in Brittany. “Or if it is, they should start by downgrading Britain, which has a bigger deficit, as much debt, more inflation, weaker growth and where bank lending is collapsing.”