Rating agency Fitch on Friday evening downgraded France's long-term sovereign credit rating from AA- to A+, with a stable outlook.
Fitch cited a high and rising government debt ratio, political fragmentation hindering consolidation, a weak fiscal record, and high deficits in 2025 as key reasons for the downgrade.
The government's recent failure in a confidence vote underscored growing fragmentation and polarization in domestic politics, weakening the system's capacity to deliver substantial fiscal consolidation, it said.
The outgoing government's target of reducing the headline deficit to three percent of GDP by 2029 was unlikely to be achieved, it added.
Fitch projected France's debt would rise to 121 percent of GDP in 2027, up from 113.2 percent in 2024, with no clear path to debt stabilization in the following years.
The agency also maintained its forecast for real GDP growth at 0.6 percent in 2025.
In a press release, the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty said Minister Eric Lombard had "taken note" of the downgrade while stressing the underlying strength of the French economy.
New Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has begun consultations with the political forces in Parliament with a view to adopting a budget for the country to continue efforts to restore public finances, the ministry said.
Fitch downgrades France's credit rating to A+
The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it is pausing immigrant visa processing from 75 countries.
The measure will apply to "countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people," the department said on X.
The pause impacts countries including Somalia, Haiti, Iran and Eritrea, "whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival," said the State Department.
Earlier on Wednesday, the department announced in a memo that it would suspend visa processing for 75 countries, including Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand and Yemen, according to a Fox News report.
The pause will begin Jan. 21 and will continue indefinitely until the department conducts a reassessment of visa processing, the report said. The move came after the White House announced on Tuesday that it is ending temporary protected status for Somali immigrants amid fraud allegations in Minnesota.
On Monday, the State Department announced on social media that it had revoked over 100,000 visas since U.S. President Donald Trump took office nearly a year ago.
In November 2025, Trump announced his intention to permanently suspend immigration from what he described as "Third World countries", following the death of a National Guard member after being shot near the White House by an Afghan national.
U.S. freezes immigrant visa processing from 75 countries
