UPDATE S & P downgraded France and Austria (from AAA to AA +), Slovakia (from A to A +), Spain (from A to AA-), and Italy was downgraded to BBB +.

22:00 Standard and Poors was going to announce which countries will have its rating downgraded. France and Austria, most likely, will lose their AAA rating. S & P officials declined to comment if it’s about 12 countries.

The French government said that this downgrade is not  to consider as a catastrophe. Germany is not among the countries that will face a downgrade. Italy, Spain and Portugal will be most likely downgraded.

The European Financial Stability Facility Fund could be also downgraded, because France is the second largest contributor to this fund. The guarantees offered to the FESF countries will fall from 451 billion to 271 billion, which means a severe blow on the fund. The German government has just approved to increase their contribution to EFSF.

S&P announced in December that ratings of 15 countries from the eurozone are monitored. Austria will be downgraded from AAA and will be put under negative outlook.

The most important consequences of this downgrading: the euro will continue to diminish, the borrowing costs will explode and this would mean that deficitsof the countries concerned will be recalculated, as well as growth prospects for 2012 and even 2013!