France Inflation Accelerates As Estimated In March

French consumer price inflation increased at the fastest pace in more than a year in March, as initially estimated, final data from the statistical office Insee showed on Thursday.

Consumer prices increased 1.1 percent year-on-year in March, in line with the provisional estimate, and faster than the 0.6 percent rise in February. This was the highest rate since February 2020, when prices were up 1.4 percent.

The annual growth in service prices accelerated to 1.1 percent from 0.8 percent and that of energy rebounded to 4.7 percent from -1.6 percent.

Food price inflation rose slightly to 0.9 percent from 0.8 percent. At the same time, the decrease in manufactured goods prices softened to -0.2 percent from -0.4 percent.

Month-on-month, consumer prices gained 0.6 percent after remaining flat in February. Monthly inflation also matched preliminary estimate.

Inflation, based on the harmonized index of consumer prices, climbed 1.4 percent, as estimated, after a 0.8 percent rise in February.

On a monthly basis, the HICP climbed 0.7 percent after being stable in the previous month. The HICP came in line with the provisional estimate.

Core inflation accelerated to 0.8 percent in March from 0.6 percent in February.

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