According to the final report from INSEE, consumer prices rose by 0.2% in March, as expected, slowing sharply compared to February (+0.9%). This increase is driven by the acceleration of the prices of manufactured products (+1.3% after +0.5%) and a slight increase of those of tobacco (+0.4% after +1.6%). The prices of food and services were stable (after respectively ‑0.3% and +0.8%). Conversely, the prices of energy decreased (‑0.7% after +4.1%).
In annual terms, CPI rose by 2.3%, as expected, after rising by 3.0% in February. It marked the lowest level since September 2021. This decrease resulted from the slowdown in the prices of food (+1.7% after +3.6%), services (+3.0% after +3.2%), energy (+3.4% after +4.3%) and manufactured products (+0.1% after +0.4%). The prices of tobacco slowed down sharply (+10.7% after +18.7%) as a result of the year-on-year increase following the sharp rise in March 2023.
Meanwhile, the core CPI grew by 2.2% per annum, slowing down compared to February (+2.6% per annum). Still, both the headline and core gauges remained above the European Central Bank's target of 2%.
The data also showed that in March, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in France with inflation in European countries - rose by 0.2% on a monthly basis and by 2.4% per annum. In February, HICP increased by 0.9% for the month and by 3.2% per annum.