Hollande meets World Bank, IMF after Standard & Poor's downgrade

French President François Hollande was set to defend his economic policies at a meeting with international finance chiefs after the Standard & Poor's agency lowered France's rating to AA.

Standard & Poor’s HQ in New York

The Paris bourse and other European stock exchanges opened down on Friday after

Standard & Poor's annnounced the downgrade, judging that France's financial room for manoeuvre had been lost.

But Hollande said that he will "confirm his strategy" in a meeting with the heads of international financial institutions at the Elysée presidential palace on Friday.

The bosses of international organisations who are part of the G20 were to be at the meeting. They are:

• Christine Lagarde of theInternational Monetary Fund;
• Jin Young Kim of the World Bank;
• Guy Rhdeer of theInternational Labour Organisation;
• Roberto Azevedo of the World Trade Organisation;
• Angel Guriia of the OECD.

The Socialist government's strategy is based on spending cuts, boosting competitiveness and fighting unemployment and is the only that can ensure "national and social cohesion", Hollande told the press ahead of the meeting.

Right-wing opposition leader Jean-François Copé called on Hollande to change a policy "based on the continuous raising" of taxes and social charges.