According to the final report from INSEE, consumer prices rose 0.2% in December, as expected, after declining by 0.1% in November. The latest change was caused by the rebound in prices of airfares (+16.7% after ‑11.4%) which pushed up prices of services (+0.5% after ‑0.3%). The prices of energy also rose (+0.7% after +0.2%), notably those of gas (+1.5% after ‑0.5%) and petroleum products (+1.0% after +0.5%). Conversely, prices fell slightly for manufactured products (‑0.5% after being stable) and food (‑0.1% after remaining stable).
In annual terms, CPI rose by 1.3% after a similar increase in November. Economists also expected an increase of 1.3%. This stability is explained by the rebound in prices of energy (+1.2% after ‑0.7%), which was offset by the slowdown in prices of services (+2.2% after +2.3%), the stabilisation of food prices (after +0.2%) and by a slightly larger fall in manufactured goods prices (‑0.4% after ‑0.3%). Year on year, the prices of tobacco rose at the same rate as in November (+8.7%).
Meanwhile, the core CPI grew by 1.3% per year after an increase of 1.5% in November.
The data also showed that in December, 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 1.8% per year. In November, HICP fell by 0.1% for the month and rose by 1.7% per year.