According to the final report from INSEE, consumer prices fell by 1.3% in September, offsetting the August increase (+0.5%). This represents the sharpest monthly fall in prices since the series began in 1990. Economists had expected a 1.2% decrease. The latest change was the result of the fall in prices of services (-2.2% after +0.5%) because of the seasonal effect of the fall in transport prices (‑13.5% after +1.4%). Prices of energy decreased again (-1.8% after -1.3%) due to the fall in prices of petroleum products (‑3.5% after ‑2.8%). Prices of food slightly decreased by 0.3% after rising 0.3% in August. Meanwhile, prices of manufactured goods rose but slowed down over the month (+0.5% after +1.4%), like those of clothing and footwear prices (+4.0% after +6.2%).
In annual terms, CPI rose by 1.1% (lowest rate since March 2021) after an increase of 1.8% in August. This drop in inflation resulted from the sharp fall back in prices of energy (‑3.3% after +0.4%) and the slowdown in those of services (+2.4% after +3.0%). The prices of manufactured products (‑0.3% after ‑0.1%), food (+0.5% after +0.5%) and tobacco (+8.7% after +8.7%) evolved year on year at a rate close to or similar to that of August.
Meanwhile, the core CPI grew by 1.4% per year, slowing compared to August (+1.7%).
The data also showed that in September, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) - an indicator that allows to compare inflation in France with inflation in European countries - fell by 1.3% on a monthly basis and rose by 1.4% per annum. In August, HICP increased by 0.6% for the month and by 2.2% per annum.