Projected 1.3% Increase in France's Consumer Price Index for December 2024

Paris, Jan 8 (NationPress) France's consumer price index (CPI) is projected to experience a year-on-year increase of 1.3 per cent in December 2024, according to the announcement made by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).

In its initial report released on Tuesday, INSEE indicated that the CPI for December should grow at a pace similar to that of November. The institute clarified that a minor recovery in energy prices is likely to be balanced by a more considerable decrease in the prices of manufactured goods and a deceleration in food prices.

Throughout the year, the costs of services and tobacco are expected to change at the same rates as the previous month, as reported by Xinhua news agency, referencing the institute.

Mathieu Plane, the deputy director of the Analysis and Forecasting Department at the French Economic Observatory, remarked that high inflation is now 'well and truly over' in France.

An unforeseen reduction in energy prices during 2024 allowed France to evade elevated inflation rates 'a bit earlier than anticipated', Plane informed Le Monde newspaper.

In the most recent economic forecast published in December 2024 by France's central bank, Banque de France (BdF), overall inflation in France was revised downward because of lower oil prices and an unexpected easing in the costs of manufactured goods and services.

The annual inflation rate for 2024 is expected to stabilize at 2.4 per cent, according to BdF, with a further decline to 1.6 per cent in 2025 attributed to a slowdown in energy prices.

Last year, INSEE reported that the CPI increased by 1.1 per cent year-on-year in September 2024, slightly less than the 1.2 per cent predicted in its preliminary report.

This represented the second consecutive month that the CPI remained below the 2 per cent threshold, marking inflation at its lowest since March 2021, following a revised 1.8 per cent rise in August 2024.