The Agence France Trésor, the body in charge of placing the State debt in the financial markets, confirmed this Wednesday that it intended to borrow 270,000 million euros in the medium and long term in 2023, a record.
At the beginning of December, AFT completed the debt issuance planned for 2022, that is, 260,000 million euros, to which are added 26,200 million euros destined to repurchase existing debt, detailed the organization attached to Bercy during the presentation of the financing program of the State for 2023. This amount of amortizations is somewhat higher than what was forecast in September, regardless of the presentation of the State Budgets.
Thanks to this advance taken in 2023, the financing needs of the French State for the coming year are lower than expected. AFT has chosen to maintain the issuance of 270,000 million euros in the markets as its objective but reduce the use of its short-term balances (BTF).
No new green debt issuance
In general, the 2023 financing program is placed under the sign of “stability”, detailed Cyril Rousseau, general director of Agence France Trésor. “In an environment with a lot of uncertainty, being an anchor of stability has value both for the issuer and for the markets,” he justified at a press conference.
No new green debt issuance is planned, but AFT plans to create at least one new 10-year inflation-indexed debt. This type of debt, which represents 10% of France’s issuances each year, saw its cost skyrocket in 2022 with the rise in inflation, which reached 6.2% in November for one year in France, and 10% in the euro zone.
On average, France borrowed at 1.03% in 2022, while the rates had been negative in 2020 (-0.30%) and 2021 (-0.28%).
The 10-year fixed-rate loan, which is the benchmark, has averaged 1.5% this year. In the bond market, where investors trade debt securities, this rate is 2.26% on Wednesday around 12:30 p.m.
Source: BFM TV
