Consumer prices in France rose to 5.2 percent on an annual average basis throughout 2022, the National Institute of Statistics (Insee) announced today, quoted by Agence France-Presse, also confirming that they rose to 5.9 percent in December compared to the same month of 2021. 

Average annual inflation in 2021 was 1.6 percent.

Inflation throughout last year was the result of acceleration in electricity prices (+23.1 percent after 10.5 percent in 2021) and food (+6.8 percent after +0.6 percent), and to the smallest extent industrial goods and services, which grew by 3 percent, the institute specified in a communiqué.

Core inflation, which strips out temporary price changes to focus on deep inflationary trends, also rose sharply to 3.9 percent in 2022 from an annual average of just 1.1 percent in 2021. 

The set goal of the European Central Bank is to stabilize inflation at around 2 percent.

Eurozone price increases have been below this target for a long time, before sharply exceeding it in 2022.

At the end of the year, price increases eased to 5.9 percent on an annual basis from 6.2 percent in October and November, and core inflation remained stable compared to November at 5.3 percent. 

On an annual basis, the jump in December was driven by electricity prices, which rose 15.1 percent compared to the same month in 2021, and food prices, which rose 12.1 percent. 

ECB: Inflation expectations in the euro area are falling

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index fell by 0.1 percent in December due to lower electricity prices, which fell by 3.6 percent.

Foodstuffs, however, rose in price by 0.5 per stoi compared to November. 

The harmonized index of consumer prices, which is used for comparison at the European level, increased by 6.7 percent in December compared to 7.1 percent in November, the statistics institute announced.

On a monthly basis, the harmonized index fell by 0.1 percent compared to a rise of 0.4 percent in November. 

inflation