French inflation cooled slightly in 2023
International Desk
French inflation slowed slightly on average last year as a sharp fall in energy prices offset the soaring cost of food, official data showed Friday.
Consumer prices rose by 4.9 percent in 2023, down from 5.2 percent the previous year, according to statistics agency INSEE.
But it remained much higher than in 2021, when it reached 1.6 percent. French inflation reached 0.5 percent in 2020.
Inflation accelerated across the world following the Covid pandemic and jumped higher after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent energy and food prices soaring in 2022.
Energy prices slowed sharply in France last year "due to the partial downturn in petroleum product prices", rising by 5.6 percent after reaching 23.1 percent in 2022, INSEE said.
But food prices accelerated to 11.8 percent in 2023 after rising by 6.8 percent the year before.
The prices of manufactured products also increased, rising by 3.5 percent in 2023 after reaching 3.0 percent in 2022.
The European Central Bank has hiked interest rates in efforts to bring eurozone inflation back to its two percent target.
Inflation in the single currency area has cooled since then, though it rose slightly in December to 2.9 percent, up from 2.4 percent in November.
In France, inflation reached 3.7 percent in December, up from 3.5 percent in November.
