In France, as in Europe, the inflation rate has been falling since August. The annual inflation rate in the eurozone is estimated at 2.2% in August 2024, compared to 2.6% in July according to a flash estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
According to the same source, services are expected to see the highest annual rate in August (4.2%, compared to 4.0% in July), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (2.4%, compared to 2.3% in July), industrial goods excluding energy (0.4%, compared to 0.7% in July) and energy (-3.0%, compared to 1.2% in July).
Furthermore, the lowest annual rates were observed in Finland (0.5%), Latvia (0.8%) and Denmark (1.0%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (5.8%), Belgium (5.4%) and Hungary (4.1%). Compared with June 2024, annual inflation fell in nine Member States, remained stable in four and rose in fourteen.
Below the 2% mark in France
In France, prices increased by 1.8% in August over one year, INSEE reported on Friday, September 12, confirming the return of inflation below the symbolic threshold of 2% for the first time in three years and even slightly lowering its first estimate (1.9%). After reaching 2.3% over one year in July, the increase in the consumer price index moderated in August due to a “very clear slowdown in energy prices”, according to the press release from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
For the first time since August 2021, the indicator has thus fallen below the 2% mark, the inflation target pursued by the European Central Bank, which on Thursday made a new rate cut due to the calming of price increases. In detail, energy prices rose slightly in August, by 0.4% over one year (compared to +8.5% in August 2023). The cost of petroleum products fell by 8% over one year, those of electricity (+10.5%) rose almost half as fast as a year earlier and those of gas also slowed, although more moderately (+9.4% over one year in August, compared to +11.4% in August 2023). Food prices increased at the same rate (+0.5%, as in August 2023).