French consumer price inflation stable sequentially in November, accelerates slightly y/y

The consumer price index in France remained stable on a sequential basis in November. Seasonally adjusted, consumer price index rose 0.1 percent after stability in October. Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the CPI accelerated slightly to 0.5 percent following 0.4 percent year-on-year recorded in November, according to INSEE.

The month-on-month stability resulted from a lower rise in energy prices and a moderate recovery in food prices, countered by a decline in services and manufactured product prices. Energy prices in November continued to be dynamic; however, it slowed down to 0.9 percent rise after a growth of 1.3 percent in October. But on a year-on-year basis, energy prices accelerated sharply 2.1 percent following a rise of 0.7 percent in October.

The deceleration on a sequential basis came from that in petroleum product prices, which slowed to 1.3 percent from 2.4 percent growth in October. On a year-on-year basis, petroleum product prices rose 4.1 percent. On the contrary, town gas and natural gas prices, index-linked to the changes in oil prices with time lag, rose sharply by 1.5 percent.

Meanwhile, food prices recovered slightly, rising 0.1 percent in November after dropping 0.1 percent in the prior month.  On a year-on-year basis, food prices remained stable. Services prices in November fell again, slightly more than in October.

Service inflation dropped 0.2 percent in November, as compared with the fall of 0.1 percent in October. On a year-on-year basis, services prices rise remained at 1 percent. The month-on-month decline was mainly due to the seasonal drop in airfares. Furthermore, the prices in accommodation services dropped again sharply, while health services prices dropped down.

Meanwhile, manufactured products prices dropped 0.1 percent sequentially after stabilizing in October. On a year-on-year basis, the prices dropped again by 0.6 percent as in September and October.

On the other hand, core inflation rose slightly to 0.1 percent on a sequential basis in November after falling 0.1 percent in October. On a year-on-year basis, it rose 0.5 percent, the same as in October. The harmonised Index of Consumer Prices remained stable over one month. It accelerated to 0.7 percent on a year-on-year basis, the highest level since May 2014.