French 10-year bond yield hits 5% for first time since 2002 as protests hit Carrefour

France's 10-year government bond yield hit 5% on Wednesday for the first time since 2002, as weeks of street protests, night curfews and a fragile budget push investors to demand more to lend to Paris. The yield touched 5.002% at 09:14 GMT (2:14pm PKT) and was up about 8 basis points on the day, Reuters reported.

The gap over German 10-year Bunds, the usual measure of how much riskier markets see France than Germany, widened to about 157 basis points, close to levels last seen during the euro debt crisis in 2011.

Why French borrowing costs are rising

Reuters listed four pressures at once:

• Global yields are up. Higher energy prices this year have pushed central banks to raise rates, lifting government borrowing costs around the world.
• The deficit. A weakened government is trying to pass a budget through parliament that cuts a high deficit.
• Politics. A hotly contested election is due next year.
• Unrest. Protests over fuel prices and the cost of living have spread across France, with thousands arrested and curfews in Paris, Nice and Lyon, as we have reported this week.

Shops feel it: Carrefour shares sink 14%

The unrest is now hitting company forecasts. Shares in the French supermarket group Carrefour plunged 14% on Wednesday after it warned that "unprecedented" unrest would hit its business, CNBC reported. France has said nightly curfews would stay "for as long as necessary", NPR reported.

What a 5% yield means

A yield is the return investors demand to hold a bond. At 5%, France pays more to borrow for ten years than it has in 24 years, and every new bond it sells costs the budget more in interest, which makes the deficit harder to close. Higher French yields also feed into mortgages and business loans in France.

For comparison, Pakistan's own borrowing costs are far higher: the State Bank's policy rate is 11.5% and one-year KIBOR is 12.76%, on our KIBOR page.

The euro and Pakistan

The euro has held up so far. It traded at Rs 310.83 on 21 October on our euro rate page, slightly up from Rs 310.58 a day earlier. Pakistani exporters selling textiles to France and families with relatives there should watch whether stress in French bonds spreads to the euro, which would change what a euro buys in rupees. Use our currency converter for the latest conversion.

The Reuters report called the move "the latest sign of growing concern among investors over France's ability to restore its fragile finances."