2024-01-12 08:06:00
By Julien Da Sois
Published 54 minutes ago, Updated 3 minutes ago
Average inflation is down slightly compared to 2022 (+5.2%). Image’in – stock.adobe.com
This slight decline is mainly explained by the sharp slowdown in energy prices, the price increase of which was divided by four in one year, according to figures revealed this Friday by INSEE.
Lower inflation, but still very significant. Consumer prices increased by 4.9% on average in 2023, according to figures revealed by INSEE this Friday. That is, inflation slightly down compared to 2022 (+5.2%), but very much higher than the figures for 2021 (+1.6%) and 2020 (+0.5%), particular years because they are marked by the health crisis.
The main factor explaining this decline is the sharp slowdown in energy prices, the price increase of which was divided by four in one year (+5.6% following +23.1%). Even if all energies were not in the same boat in 2023: when the prices of petroleum products fell significantly (‑1.7% following +29% in 2022), gas prices simply slowed down ( +14.3% following +40.9%), while conversely, those of electricity accelerated (+12.9% following +7.4%).
Conversely, it is food which largely pushed inflation up in 2023, with prices increasing by 11.8% on average, following 6.8% in 2022. “Prices excluding fresh products (+12.2 % on average following +6.6 %) accelerate more markedly than those of fresh products (+9.5 % on average following +7.7 %)”, notes INSEE.
Continued slowdown in 2024
The national statistics institute also observes “a more or less pronounced price increase depending on the category of households“. For example, the lowest-income households were more hit by inflation in 2023 than the average household. It was 0.2 points higher for households in the first standard of living decile, and 0.3 points for those in the second decile. Likewise, older households have suffered higher inflation than younger ones. It reached on average +5.1% for households where the reference person is between 60 and 74 years old, compared to +4.4% for those where the reference person is under 30 years old.
INSEE also confirmed this Friday its inflation figure for December over one year, at +3.7%. A slight jump compared to November (+3.5%) attributed to the acceleration in energy and services prices at the end of the year. But this is not enough to call into question the trend of slowing inflation, which should continue in 2024. INSEE predicts that inflation will fall to 2.6% over one year next June, “under the hypothesis of a barrel price of Brent frozen over the forecast period at 75 euros“. The inflationary crisis is “behind us», rejoiced last month the Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, reappointed Thursday in his functions on the occasion of the reshuffle.
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