PARIS, France, Feb 28 – French inflation accelerated for the second month in a row in February after an end-of-year pause, the official statistics authority said Tuesday, reaching 6.2 percent year-on-year.
Coming after a 6.0-percent annual increase last month, “this slight increase in inflation is down to acceleration of prices for food and services,” Insee said in its preliminary report on the February data.
Insee found that the cost of food added 14.5 percent this month compared with a year before, up from 13.3 percent in January.
Service prices also grew faster than in January, while manufactured goods picked up as well as winter sales ended.
Price growth for energy however slowed down, to 14 percent from 16.3, driven by falling oil-based products.
France’s inflation rates have reached levels not seen since the 1980s after consumer prices began surging last year.
Price growth nevertheless remains lower than many of its eurozone neighbours — in part thanks to government support.
Measured using the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices — the preferred measure of the European Central Bank, in charge of controlling eurozone price growth — France’s February inflation rate was 7.2 percent year-on-year, 0.2 points faster than in January.
