Consumer prices slowed very sharply on an annual average in 2024, at +2%INSEE said on Wednesday, after two years marked by high inflation, following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. In 2022, prices increased by 5.2% on average, and in 2023, by 4.9%driven upwards in particular by those in energy and food. Excluding tobacco, consumer prices are also less dynamic than in 2023: +1.8% in 2024, after +4.8%.
The fall in annual average inflation is driven by the very clear slowdown in food prices (+1.4% in 2024 after +11.8% the previous year), by the slowdown in energy prices (+2.3% after +5.6%) but also by the stability of those of manufactured products (0% after +3.5%) and the slight drop in service prices (+2.7% after +3.0%). Tobacco prices are the only ones to have increased in 2024: +10.3% after +8.0%.
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Inflation expected to continue to slow in 2025
In 2021, before the start of the Ukrainian crisis, consumer prices had increased by 1.6% on average over the year. On an annual average, the harmonized consumer price index (HICP), which allows comparisons between European countries, increased by 2.3% in 2024, after +5.7% in 2023. Core inflation , which excludes the most volatile prices from the calculation, is established at +1.3% over one year also, after +1.5% the previous month, while the HICP increased by 0.2% over the monthafter -0.1% in November, and accelerated slightly over one year, to +1.8% after +1.7% in November.
In its latest economic report, INSEE forecasts that inflation will continue to fall in 2025, with an expected level of +1% in June over twelve months. The National Institute of Statistics also confirmed on Wednesday that consumer prices had increased by 1.3% over twelve months in December, as in November, and by 0.2% compared to those in November, after a drop of 0.1% in November.
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