France, Sept. 12 -- France on Friday risks a downgrade on its ability to pay back debts, economists said, a move that would further complicate new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's task of drawing up a budget for next year.

US ratings agency Fitch, one of the top global institutions gauging the financial solidity of sovereign borrowers, is to deliver its latest assessment of France's creditworthiness later on Friday after Wall Street closes.

It comes only days after Lecornu's predecessor Francois Bayrou lost a confidence vote in parliament over an attempt to get an austerity budget adopted, which he had hoped would cut the French deficit and tackle a growing debt mountain.

Fitch currently rates France's ability to repay its sovereign ...