The average interest rate for all French government debt issues in 2023 has reached 3.15%, a level not seen since 2008, Agence France Trésor said on Wednesday.
The rate includes all issues, short or long term, issued until December 11 according to figures from the AFT, the body attached to Bercy responsible for placing France’s debt on the financial markets. He was from 1.04% in 2022 and mrs negative (-0.28%), in 2021.
In 2008, the interest rate rose to 3.88% on average. Following the financial crisis, central banks began lowering their key interest rates in order to support economic activity and the markets. This movement had repercussions on other interest rates, including government borrowing rates.
AFT has already completed all of the medium and long-term debt issues planned in its 2023 financing program, but short-term security (BTF) issues remain.
Fight against inflation
The rise in interest rates is the consequence of the policy of the European Central Bank, which has massively raised its key rates since July 2022, to now reach 4%, in order to fight inflation.
If interests have increased, these are rates at which Agence France Trsor has already paid in the past, recalled Antoine Deruennes, general director of Agence France Trsor since October 2023, during a press conference. In 1998 and 2008, the rate was 3.73% on average for all missions, according to AFT calculations. But it was only 0.63%, between 2009 and 2020.
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