By Yoruk Bahceli
June 25 (Reuters) - For investors in France, a left-wing
alliance could be a bigger risk than a far-right leadership,
some analysts say.
President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision to call
parliamentary elections this month and Marine Le Pen's far-right
National Rally (RN) leading the polls have exacerbated concerns
about France's fiscal sustainability.
The spread French debt pays over Germany surged
and shares in French banks and companies
slumped in the days after the election was announced. The
selloff has eased but assets are far from recovering.
Spending plans by the leftist New Popular Front (NFP)
alliance, which is polling second behind the RN, have added to
those fiscal worries.
Some investors and analysts now say the risk that the NFP
may perform better than expected in the second election round on
July 7 due to tactical voting, and even form part of a new
government, may be a bigger worry for financial markets.
"The worst outcome for the market would be if the left wing
would get in with the majority... that's the tail risk," said
Gareth Hill, a portfolio manager at Royal London Asset
Management.
The NFP wants to progressively ramp up spending to an extra
150 billion euros ($160.44 billion) annually by 2027 to cover
policies ranging from a 10% civil servant pay rise this year to
cutting the retirement age to 60 from 64 currently.
It says the spending would be fully offset by hikes on taxes
ranging from inheritance to wealth and multinational
corporations.
While the NFP would not increase France's budget deficit if
able to form a government, it also wouldn't reduce it, an
official said last week.
That's a worry for investors. France's deficit was at 5.5%
of output last year - far above the European Union's 3% limit -
already prompting the EU executive to recommend disciplinary
steps.
In contrast, the far-right RN's financial pointman
Jean-Philippe Tanguy told Reuters in an interview published on
Monday that the party won't "let the deficit run out of control"
and would retain current plans to reduce it to 3% by 2027 to
respect EU rules. It has also pledged an audit of public
finances.
While it remained to be seen what it would do if in
government, the RN at least speaking of fiscal responsibility is
"reassuring", said Hill at Royal London Asset Management.
NEGATIVE FOR THE EURO
There's no doubt the RN's costly plans have spooked markets.
They include cutting value-added tax on energy and lowering the
retirement age to 60 for workers, though the party now says that
would only apply to those who started working before the age of
20. It says the cost of its plans can be offset by cutting red
tape, closing tax loopholes and reducing welfare spending
benefiting immigrants.
Yet, compared to an NFP lead, an RN majority would be
welcomed by financial markets, economists at Nomura said in a
note distributed on Tuesday.
"In our view, NFP forming the government, whether outright
or as a minority, would be most adverse for financial markets
and result in (French-German bond) spreads widening further,"
they wrote, adding it would also be negative for the euro
.
"In many ways, the NFP is openly rejecting the institutions
that govern fiscal prudence, akin to the UK's Liz Truss," Nomura
wrote, referring to the former British Prime Minister's unfunded
tax cuts that led to a UK government bond rout in 2022.
Economists at investment bank Jefferies said a left-wing
government would be the "worst outcome" for markets if it was
the result of Jean-Luc Melenchon's far-left France Unbowed
party, part of the NFP, doing well and prompting a far-left
policy agenda.
"We could see increased clashes with the EU," Jefferies
wrote, expecting the French spread over Germany - currently
around 70 basis points - to widen to as much as 120 in such a
scenario, assigning it a 20-25% chance.
"The negative reaction in the market could last longer, and
it's not obvious to us that this scenario would be consistent
with a buy the dip view," they wrote, a position they recommend
for most other scenarios including an RN absolute majority.
($1 = 0.9349 euros)