Fitch Retains France's 'AA' Ratings

(RTTNews) - Fitch Ratings maintained the sovereign ratings of France at 'AA' with stable outlook late Friday.

The agency said the ratings balance a wealthy and diversified economy, track record of relative macro-financial stability, strong and effective civil and social institutions with a high general government debt/GDP ratio and fiscal deficit.

France achieved a better than expected general government deficit of 3.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2015 compared with 4.0 percent in 2014.

Nonetheless, Fitch said high indebtedness limits France's ability to deal with fiscal shocks and constitutes the main weakness to France's rating.

Fitch assumed that the authorities will be keen to avoid deficit-related negative news-flow around the presidential elections.