(14 November 2011 – Global) As a result of a ‘technical error” ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) mistakenly announced to some of its clients a downgrade of France’s top “AAA” credit rating.The mistake fuelled further speculation that the ratings agency was due to downgrade the country’s rating imminently.
The agency released a statement which said ‘As a result of a technical error, a message was automatically disseminated to some subscribers of S&P’s Global Credit Portal suggesting that France’s credit rating had been changed,’ S&P said in a statement.
‘This is not the case: the ratings on Republic of France remain ‘AAA/A-1+’ with a stable outlook and this incident is not related to any ratings surveillance activity. We are investigating the cause of the error.’
Another ratings agency, Moody’s, warned France last month its ‘financial strength has weakened’ and that it was ‘among the weakest of its AAA peers’.