French Inflation At 7-Month Low

(RTTNews) - France's inflation eased to a seven-month low in December due to a more pronounced fall in energy prices, provisional estimate from the statistical office INSEE showed on Tuesday.

The consumer price index logged an annual increase of 0.8 percent, following November's 0.9 percent rise. This was the slowest rate since May. Prices were expected to rise again by 0.9 percent.

EU harmonized inflation also slowed unexpectedly in December, to 0.7 percent from 0.8 percent in November. Economists had forecast the rate to remain unchanged at 0.8 percent.

Energy prices declined sharply by 6.8 percent after a 4.6 percent drop but food inflation advanced to 1.7 percent from 1.4 percent.

Manufactured products posted a slower fall of 0.4 percent compared to November's 0.6 percent decrease. At the same time, services inflation remained unchanged at 2.2 percent. On a monthly basis, both the CPI and the HICP edged up 0.1 percent each, reversing previous month's 0.2 percent drop. Consumer and harmonized prices were expected to climb 0.2 percent each in December. Final data is due on January 15.