Bruno Le Maire aims for “5% inflation at the start of 2023”, “4% at the end of 2023” and “2% during 2024”

If the hit of the year 2020 and 2021 were unquestionably the coronavirus, repeated until indigestion, inflation should the album of the following two-three years. The heady and depressing music of the price increase seems in any case set to last for a little while, warns Bruno Le Maire. The Minister of Economy and Finance rolled out his inflation targets on Thursday, saying he wanted to bring it down to 5% at the start of 2023, 4% at the end of 2023 and 2% during 2024, but warning that in the event of a crisis “everything could blow up “.

“I don’t know if we will reach them, if the crisis in Ukraine escalates, all these figures are shattered, if there is a major crisis in China, all these figures are shattered, I I am aware, so I give them with great caution,” he added.

“Everything is bearable except inflation”

The rise in consumer prices in France slowed to 5.6% year on year in September, against 5.9% in August, according to INSEE, which is due to publish its first estimate for the month of October next week.

The statistical institute, however, predicted in its note on the economy for the last quarter a rebound in inflation at the end of the year after stabilizing in October. Bruno Le Maire insisted on the need to “reassure” the French about inflation, adding that his objectives constituted his “battle plan” because “everything is bearable except inflation”.

According to him, the rise in prices is “generating anxiety” for households. “It’s not just an economic difficulty, it’s a social difficulty, a political difficulty, people feel taken by the throat (…) and that’s how political crises start,” he said. he hammered.