Food consumption (37% of total spending on goods), which had suffered from high inflation which has now subsided, accelerated in August, increasing by 0.8% after an increase of 0.2% in July. It benefited from an “increase in purchases in almost all areas of consumption of agri-food products”, detailed the National Institute of Statistics in a press release. Energy consumption, which accounts for 20% of household spending on goods, slowed down (+0.2% after +0.9%) due to lower fuel consumption and spending on electricity and gas in drop. Following an opposite trend, consumption of manufactured goods (43% of expenditure) continued to decline (-0.4% after -0.3%), the rebound in expenditure on clothing not having completely offset the sharp decline “expenditure on durable goods such as transport equipment and housing equipment (electronic products, furniture, household appliances, etc.). In July, household consumption of goods also increased by 0.2%, revised down by 0.1 point on Friday by INSEE.
Inflation: +1.2% over one year
Prices increased by 1.2% year-on-year in France in September, a sharp decline compared to inflation of 1.8% recorded in August, INSEE indicated on Friday in a first estimate. The slowdown in inflation is explained both by the slowdown in the rise in prices of services (2.5% year-on-year in September after 3% in August) and the decrease in energy prices (-3 .3%) and manufactured products (-0.3%), details the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. The cost of food products (+0.5% over one year) and tobacco (+8.7%) evolved at the same rate as in August, according to this provisional estimate which must be confirmed mid -october. The consumer price index (CPI) therefore remains for the second month in a row below the inflation target of the European Central Bank, set at 2%. A benchmark indicator at European level, the harmonized consumer price index (HICP) also fell below the symbolic 2% mark, to 1.5% over one year in September compared to 2.2% in August.
Over one month, the consumer price index fell by 1.2% in September. This is “the strongest monthly drop in prices since the start of the series (statistics, Editor’s note) in 1990”, underlines INSEE. “To the seasonal effect of the drop in the price of transport (notably air) and accommodation services, we must add in particular the marked drop in energy prices, the return to normal of certain prices after the Games Olympic and Paralympic Games and the fall in the price of health services”, list the national statisticians. “Conversely, the prices of manufactured products would increase over one month, driven by the increase in the prices of clothing and shoes,” adds INSEE. In its latest economic report, published at the beginning of September, INSEE predicted that the consumer price index would reach 1.6% over one year in December 2024.
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