Standard and Poor's (S&P) has cut France's credit rating to AA from AA+, making it the second one in two years for France .

This move comes almost two years after the country lost its top-rated AAA status.

According to source, S&P said it downgraded France because high unemployment in the country was making it hard for the government to make important reforms which would boost growth,

The French government responded by saying that its debt rating was one of the safest in the euro zone.

S&P said it expected government debt to hit 86% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 and unemployment to remain above 10% until 2016.

The country's Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, said S&P had made "critical and inaccurate judgements".

He said in a statement: "During the last 18 months the government has implemented major reforms aimed at improving the French economic situation, restoring its public finances, and its competitiveness."

In theory, a lower credit rating makes borrowing more expensive.

The return for investors buying French debt indeed did rise after the announcement.

S&P is very publicly criticising France for not doing more to lift its economy out of the economic doldrums and cut persistently high unemployment”

The yield on French government 10-year bonds rose more than 20 basis points to 2.389% from 2.158%.

According to French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, France's ratings remained among the best in the world and that the agency did not take into account all the reforms made by the government.

However, the downgrade could be the last for some time.

S&P attached a "stable outlook" to France, which implies a less than one-in-three chance that it would change France's rating over the next two years.