Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered its outlook on France’s AA credit rating to negative from stable Friday，casting doubt on the effectiveness of President Franois Hollande’s flagship policies and warning that public finances may deteriorate as economic growth disappoints.
標準普爾評級服務機構10日將法國AA主權信用評級展望由穩定下調至負面，對法國總統奧朗德的核心政策的有效性提出質疑，并警告在經濟增長放緩的同時公共財政狀況可能惡化。(《華爾街日報》)
“We believe that，due to policy implementation risk related to the budgetary consolidation and structural reforms，a recovery of the French economy could prove elusive and that France’s public finances might deteriorate beyond 2014，although this is not our base-case scenario，”it said in a statement.
“我們相信，因與鞏固預算和結構性改革相關的政策實施可能存在風險，法國經濟復蘇前景不明，其公共財政在2014年之后可能惡化，盡管這并非我們的基本判斷，”標普在聲明中表示。(路透社)
The change in the outlook comes as the French government itself acknowledges that weak economic growth has undermined its budget plans and the budget deficit will run higher than promised earlier this year.
此次標普對法國評級展望作出調整，正值法國政府承認經濟增長疲弱影響了預算方案、預算赤字將高于今年早些時候承諾的水平之時。(《華爾街日報》)
Official figures from the Bank of France showed that the French economy did not grow at all in the second quarter，and for the third quarter it is forecasting growth of 0.2%.
法國央行的官方數據顯示，二季度法國經濟出現零增長，預計三季度將增長0.2%。(英國廣播公司)
The French government confirmed at the start of the month that it would not cut its public deficit as fast as it had promised its EU partners due to weaker than expected growth and inflation. The government now expects the deficit to fall in line with an EU-mandated target of 3 percent of economic output in 2017 instead of 2015 as previously promised.
法國政府本月初證實，由于經濟增長和通脹水平不及預期，其將不會以此前向歐盟承諾的速度來削減公共財政赤字。目前，法國政府預計財政赤字將于2017年達到歐盟規定的占經濟產出的3%的目標，而非此前承諾的2015年。(路透社)
S&P projects that the French government’s deficits will average 4.1% between 2014 and 2017—compared to 3.2% as of April this year—while economic growth will average just 1.2% during that same time frame，a growth projection that is 0.1% lower than their prior forecast.
根據標普的預計，2014年至2017年間法國政府的財政赤字將平均占國內生產總值的4.1%，高于4月份預計的3.2%；同時期的平均經濟增速將僅為1.2%，比此前預期的增速低0.1%。(《福布斯》)
The further deterioration of S&P’s assessment of France’s finances comes at a difficult moment for Mr. Hollande. With opinion polls showing he is the least popular president，the Socialist leader’s government faces opposition on all sides to his plans to repair public finances and buoy the economy after a prolonged period of stagnation.
標普此次進一步調低對法國財政狀況的評估，正值總統奧朗德的艱難時期。民意調查顯示，奧朗德為法國最不受歡迎的總統。在經歷了漫長的經濟停滯期后，奧朗德領導的社會黨政府也面臨著各方對其修復公共財政、支撐經濟發展計劃的反對。(《華爾街日報》)
S&P said that Mr. Hollande’s unpopularity and the vocal opposition to his fiscal and economic plans may slow down action on finances and liberalizing highly regulated areas of the economy. The country already lacks a strong record for carrying out painful reforms，the ratings firm noted.“We believe that implementation risks persist，”S&P said.
標普表示，奧朗德的不得人心以及外界對其財政經濟計劃的反對可能放慢財政措施的實行和對受到高端監管的經濟領域的自由化進程。該機構稱，法國本身缺乏實施艱苦改革的傳統。“我們相信政策實施的風險將持續，”標普表示。(《華爾街日報》)
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin reacted quickly to the move from S&P. In a statement，he said French debt remains one of the safest and most liquid investments in the world. He also said that France wouldn’t change its economic strategy.“The economic situation is weighing on our budget balances，but the government has decided to stick to its course，”Mr. Sapin said.
法國財政部長米歇爾·薩班對標普的行動迅速作出了回應。他在一份聲明中稱，法國債務仍將是世界上最安全和流動性最高的投資之一，并稱政府不會改變經濟戰略。“經濟狀況給預算平衡帶來了壓力，但政府已決定堅持既定路線，”薩班稱。(《華爾街日報》)
S&P was the first of the three major ratings firms to strip France of the top triple-A rating in January 2012，just before Mr. Hollande came to office. Since then，both Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings have followed suit and S&P downgraded France again in November last year to AA from AA+.
2012年1月，就在奧朗德執政前夕，標普成為三大國際評級機構中第一個下調法國3A評級的評級機構。此后，穆迪和惠譽也紛紛下調法國評級。去年11月，標普進一步將法國評級由AA+下調至AA。(《華爾街日報》)
