The FINANCIAL — French consumer prices rose in March compared with the previous month, as the country exited the regulated sales season, prices of fresh produce rose and fuel prices slightly rebounded, statistics agency Insee said on April 15.
France’s consumer price index rose 0.7% in March from February, after rising 0.7% on the month in February, although it recorded a 0.1% decline compared with a year earlier. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast the same monthly increase but had expected prices would be unchanged from a year earlier.
France’s HICP–a harmonized measure of annual price changes used by the European Central Bank–was unchanged on the year in March, compared with a 0.3% decline in February. The ECB targets inflation close to 2%, according to Nasdaq.
The French government has warned that inflation is running below expectations. Low inflation hurts tax receipts– particularly sales taxes–for the government when the country is struggling to rein in its budget deficit amid weak economic growth.
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