2023-05-21 20:56:03
It confirms what we already knew… or almost. The anti-inflation quarter in supermarkets will “obviously” be extended “by one quarter”, explained Saturday evening on France 2 the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, reiterating his “determination” to “stop the spiral of prices” by the fall and promising “within a few weeks” proposals for tax cuts.
Since March 15 and for three months, most supermarkets have undertaken to sell a selection of products at the “lowest possible price”, a formula leaving them great freedom of maneuver. The objective for Bercy: to try to stem the galloping inflation on the shelves of supermarkets, still measured at nearly 16% over one year in March.
“We are obviously going to extend (the operation) an extra term because the summer is tough,” he said. “As the prices are not going to drop immediately, the distributors must commit themselves for next summer and they have done so, so much the better. “The anti-inflation quarter ends on June 15th. We want, with the distributors, to extend this operation. They agree to extend. I salute their attitude,” he had already said in early May.
Efficiency questioned
As of May 11, Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD), had assured that the distributors had “generally given their agreement to the extension of the anti-inflation operations”. System U CEO Dominique Schelcher announced that he was extending the anti-inflation quarter “until the end of the year”.
According to the government, “on average for seven weeks, the prices of products in the anti-inflation quarter have fallen by 13% in the basket”, an analysis described as “false” by the influential consumer association UFC-Que Choisir, which said to have noted small price increases in several brands.
Bruno Le Maire also “thanked”, on Saturday, the agrifood manufacturers for having accepted new trade negotiations “to lower prices”, “which means that, at the start of the school year in September-October, we will have – in all case it is my determination – broken the price spiral”. The main representative body of the agri-food industry, Ania, pledged last week that the 75 largest companies in the sector would reopen negotiations “before the end of the month”.
“Proposals” soon on tax cuts
On the tax side, while Emmanuel Macron has promised 2 billion euros in tax cuts for the middle classes by 2027, Bruno Le Maire has indicated that he will make “proposals” within “a few weeks” and estimated that “announcements could be made within a few months. “We are doing what our public finances allow us to do and I think that 2 billion euros is already a significant sum,” he observed.
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