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.
标准普尔评级服务机构10日将法国AA主权信用评级展望由稳定下调至负面，对法国总统奥朗德的核心政策的有效性提出质疑，并警告在经济增长放缓的同时公共财政状况可能恶化。(《华尔街日报》)
“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.
“我们相信，因与巩固预算和结构性改革相关的政策实施可能存在风险，法国经济复苏前景不明，其公共财政在2014年之后可能恶化，尽管这并非我们的基本判断，”标普在声明中表示。(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.
此次标普对法国评级展望作出调整，正值法国政府承认经济增长疲弱影响了预算方案、预算赤字将高于今年早些时候承诺的水平之时。(《华尔街日报》)
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%.
法国央行的官方数据显示，二季度法国经济出现零增长，预计三季度将增长0.2%。(英国广播公司)
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.
法国政府本月初证实，由于经济增长和通胀水平不及预期，其将不会以此前向欧盟承诺的速度来削减公共财政赤字。目前，法国政府预计财政赤字将于2017年达到欧盟规定的占经济产出的3%的目标，而非此前承诺的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.
根据标普的预计，2014年至2017年间法国政府的财政赤字将平均占国内生产总值的4.1%，高于4月份预计的3.2%；同时期的平均经济增速将仅为1.2%，比此前预期的增速低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.
标普此次进一步调低对法国财政状况的评估，正值总统奥朗德的艰难时期。民意调查显示，奥朗德为法国最不受欢迎的总统。在经历了漫长的经济停滞期后，奥朗德领导的社会党政府也面临着各方对其修复公共财政、支撑经济发展计划的反对。(《华尔街日报》)
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.
标普表示，奥朗德的不得人心以及外界对其财政经济计划的反对可能放慢财政措施的实行和对受到高端监管的经济领域的自由化进程。该机构称，法国本身缺乏实施艰苦改革的传统。“我们相信政策实施的风险将持续，”标普表示。(《华尔街日报》)
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.
法国财政部长米歇尔·萨班对标普的行动迅速作出了回应。他在一份声明中称，法国债务仍将是世界上最安全和流动性最高的投资之一，并称政府不会改变经济战略。“经济状况给预算平衡带来了压力，但政府已决定坚持既定路线，”萨班称。(《华尔街日报》)
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，就在奥朗德执政前夕，标普成为三大国际评级机构中第一个下调法国3A评级的评级机构。此后，穆迪和惠誉也纷纷下调法国评级。去年11月，标普进一步将法国评级由AA+下调至AA。(《华尔街日报》)
