MNI BRIEF: France Mindful Of Negative Moody's Outlook-Minister

MNI (ROME) - WASHINGTON, DC - Moody’s lowering of its outlook on France's debt to negative is being looked at very “carefully” by the country's government, but will not to trigger any new special actions because a fiscal consolidation plan was already seen as necessary, finance minister Antoine Armand said Friday. 

France notes the change by Moody’s like it did three weeks ago when Fitch did the same, the minister said, adding that those updates reflect a “contrasting situation” with what he said was the country's strong economy, whose recovery he sees as likely to be led by consumption. 

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who was also in the briefing, said bringing the public deficit to 5% in the next budget was a “credibility threshold” for the nation.