French October Inflation Rate Revised Up to 0.8%

The French consumer price inflation rate came in at 0.8 percent year-on-year in October of 2019, from 0.9 percent in the prior month, but above preliminary estimates of 0.7 percent. It was the lowest rate since July of 2017.
INSEE | Rafael Gonzalez | rafael.gonzalez@tradingeconomics.com 11/14/2019 9:51:23 AM
Energy cost dropped for the first time since September 2016 (-1.6 percent vs 0.2 percent in September), as prices continued to fall for petroleum products (-4.5 percent vs -2.6 percent) and gas (-7.8 percent vs -3.4 percent). Also, food cost increased at a much softer pace (1.8 percent vs 2.1 percent), particularly fresh products (-0.1 percent vs 2.0 percent) amid a drop in prices of fresh vegetables (-3.7 percent vs 2.6 percent). 

On the other hand, services inflation was steady (at 1.2 percent), as transport services prices advanced faster (1.6 percent vs 0.8 percent) while prices slowed for “other services” (1.6 percent vs 1.7 percent) and housing-related services (0.7 percent vs 0.8 percent). Also, health services cost went down (-0.2 percent vs -0.3 percent) while inflation was steady for communication services (at 0.9 percent). 

Annual core inflation, which excludes public sector prices, the most volatile consumer prices and the tax measures, increased to 1.0 percent in October from 0.9 percent in the previous month. 

On a monthly basis, consumer prices showed no growth in October, after a 0.3 percent fall in the previous month, as prices decreased less for services (-0.1 percent vs -1.3 percent) and food (-0.4 percent vs -0.5 percent). In contrast, manufactured products prices went up at a softer pace (0.3 percent vs 1.5 percent). 

The harmonized index of consumer prices increased by 0.9 percent from the previous year, following a 1.1 percent rise in September, while it fell by 0.1 percent month-over-month (vs -0.4 percent in September).

French October Inflation Rate Revised Up to 0.8%