International credit rating agency Moody's on Friday affirmed France's sovereign credit rating at Aa3 with a negative outlook.
Moody's said the Aa3 rating assumes France will adopt a 2027 budget aimed at reducing its fiscal deficit, with borrowing costs and social tensions easing somewhat in the coming months.
The decision came as markets had widely anticipated a downgrade that would have brought France's rating in line with the A+ ratings assigned by Fitch and Standard and Poor's.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu welcomed the decision, saying the government aims to pass the 2027 budget by the end of this year and reduce the fiscal deficit to 5 percent of GDP.
France has faced mounting fiscal pressure in recent years. The government expects its fiscal deficit to reach 5.4 percent of GDP in 2026. Meanwhile, its public debt has also continued to rise. According to the national statistics institute INSEE, public debt stood at 119 percent of GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2026.
Moody's warned that substantial and sustained fiscal efforts would still be needed after the 2027 presidential election to improve public finances and stabilize debt.
Recently, large-scale protests over education, rising living costs and deteriorating public services erupted across the country.
With the 2027 presidential election approaching, political divisions and social tensions are posing further challenges to the government's efforts to bring public finances under control.
Moody's keeps France's Aa3 sovereign credit rating unchanged with negative outlook
A quake-damaged primary school in Maru Township, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, has set up more than 30 tents on the playground to serve as temporary shelters for the teaching staff and their families.
The 7.0-magnitude quake struck Baqen County of Nagqu City at 22:33 Beijing time (1433 GMT) on Thursday.
Maru Township was among the areas hit hardest by the quake. The township's only primary school, Maru Township Primary School, was damaged heavily.
Two teaching buildings showed varying degrees of destruction, including visible wall cracks, shattered windows, and some structural collapses. The dormitories for the teaching staff and the students were also affected. Fortunately, all the students and teachers were safely evacuated.
Many of the students were sleeping in their dormitories when the quake occurred. Following the earthquake, the teachers immediately evacuated the students to safety.
"We went to the dormitories right away. Some students were still sleeping, so we woke them up and got them out," a teacher said.
While some teachers were injured in the quake, no students were hurt.
The school's sports field has now been converted into a centralized shelter, where over 30 thick, cotton tents have been set up for the teaching staff, their families, and logistics workers.
Supplies inside the tents are plentiful, including thick quilts, food, snacks, and local specialty tea. Power was restored the day after the earthquake, and logistics staff are ensuring three meals a day for everyone.
One child living in the shelter said six people share a tent, and the quilts distributed to them are quite thick.
"It feels like home because my family is here, and I have my meals here in the morning, at noon, and in the evening," the child said.
Since the winter vacation has not yet begun, the school is actively working out a plan to address the students' schooling, including online teaching or transferring students to nearby safe schools.
To cope with the winter cold, the school has applied to local authorities for prefabricated housing units, which are expected to arrive in the next two days. These units will replace the tents and serve as temporary classrooms.
Quake-damaged school in Xizang sets up tents on playground to shelter teaching staff, their families
