Inflation continues in December, prices rise by 3.7% year on year

Inflation in France jumped slightly to 3.7% year-on-year in December from 3.5% in November due to an “acceleration” in energy and service prices, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics. Energy prices rose 5.6% year-on-year in December (up from 3.1% in November), and prices for services rose 3.1% (up from 2.8%). Although they make up less than a tenth of households’ consumption basket, they will nevertheless fall in one month, unlike services (about half of the basket).

Food prices, which were the main driver of inflation in 2023 with a peak of nearly 16% in the spring, however continued to slow, rising 7.1% year-on-year in December (down from 7.7% in November). ).

But prices for fresh produce followed the opposite trend, rising 8.8% in December after 6.6% in November. Industrial product prices slowed to +1.4% year-on-year in December after +1.9%.

The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, which allows comparisons with Europe, also rose to 4.1% year-on-year in December, up from 3.9% in November.

Diesel at 1.75 euros per liter.

According to official data published by the government on January 3, 2023 ended with a liter of SP95-E10 offered at €1.78 and €1.75 for diesel. Prices, which are directly dependent on oil prices, have nevertheless not reached the peaks of 2022, when the two-euro mark was crossed several times.

The government announced the end of fuel testing three weeks ago. Regarding the fuel allowance of one hundred euros, which will affect ten million households in the lowest tax bracket in 2023, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire noted that it will be directly dependent on prices.

The crisis is “behind”, according to Le Maire

In December, Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire estimated that the inflation crisis caused by the fallout from Covid and then the war in Ukraine was “behind” in France, but inflation would remain “a little small”. higher” than before the crisis, in particular due to the energy transition.

In its latest forecasts, published in mid-December, INSEE expects inflation to average 4.9% annually in 2023 (following 5.2% in 2022) and 2.6% for one year next June.

The Bank of France forecast inflation to reach an annual average of 5.7% in 2023 and fall to 2.5% in 2024, according to the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP).