The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) in France is expected to rise 4.8 percent in August, staying slightly below 5 percent for the third consecutive month since April 2022, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) said Thursday in its preliminary report.
« This increase in inflation is due to a rebound of energy prices, » the INSEE said.
Since the French government announced in July that the regulated electricity price would increase by 10 percent from Aug. 1, for both households and small businesses, the INSEE estimated that energy prices in France should have increased by 4.8 percent in August, after a 3.7 percent decrease in July.
On the positive side, for the fifth consecutive month, the increase in food prices is expected to slow down from 12.7 percent in July to 11.1 percent in August.
Speaking to public television channel France 2 on Thursday, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the agri-food industry is now determined to « definitively break the price spiral. »
He said that negotiations would start in September at the earliest to « make it possible to see price reductions from January 2024. »
As of Thursday, the prices of some 5,000 food products will be fixed, he said, adding that manufacturers and distributors are currently working on the product list, which will be finalized in the coming weeks.
