PARIS (Reuters) – French inflation accelerated more than expected in August due to renewed price pressures in the energy sector whereas they eased again in the food sector, preliminary EU-harmonised official data showed on Thursday.
French consumer prices reached a 12-month inflation rate of 5.7%, up from 5.1% in July, the INSEE stats agency said.
A Reuters poll of 18 economists had an average forecast for the 12-month inflation rate of 5.4% with estimates ranging from 4.7% to 5.8%.
“This rise in inflation is due to a rebound in energy prices. Food prices eased (for the fifth month in a row) as well as those, to a lesser extent, of manufactured products and services”, the stats agency said.
It also confirmed that France, euro zone’s second-biggest economy, grew 0.5% in the three months through to the end of June after expanding 0.1% in the first quarter.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Jean-Michel Belot)
